Last week’s request for additional budget cuts of 10 percent is expected to have a dramatic effect on state services — and local ones, too. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on how a new round of slashing will affect school districts in particular.
Texas Education Agency
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw on geriatric care in state prisons, with Miller’s photo essay inside those walls; M. Smith interviews the state’s newest Supreme Court justice, Debra Lehrmann; Aguilar finds fewer Mexicans seeking asylum in the U.S; Galbraith sorts out the politics of pollution and whether our air is dangerous to breathe; Thevenot discovers authorities writing tickets for misbehavior to elementary school kids; Philpott reports on early hearing about political redistricting; Kreighbaum examines fines levied against polluters and finds they’re often smaller than the economic benefits of the infractions; and Stiles and Babalola spotlight some of our data projects from our first seven months online: The best of our best from May 31 to June 4, 2010.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Still Not Racing to the Top [Updated]
Gov. Rick Perry wasn’t interested in federal “Race to the Top” money before — and he isn’t now, either.
Posted in
Health care
Kenneth Cooper: The TT Interview
The world-renowned Dallas doctor who essentially invented jogging as exercise talks with the Tribune about health care reform, the crisis of obesity in Texas, and what lawmakers must do to shore up the physical-education legislation they passed last session.
Posted in
Economy
A Lousy Grade
More than two-thirds of Texans say their confidence in the state’s public schools ranges from shaky to nonexistent, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. A majority of Texans believe that crime, low academic standards, lack of parental involvement and not enough funding are “major” problems that public schools face — but two-thirds say “too much religion in the schools” is not a problem.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE’s Last Laugh
You know that prayer that before today’s State Board of Education meeting, which some found so inappropriate? It was read by arch-conservative Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond — but not written by her. In a gag on her detractors, she lifted the text from U.S. Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon Earl Warren.
Posted inState Government
The SBOE Gets an Earful
Members of the State Board of Education, meeting in Austin this week, are scheduled to take a final vote on new social studies curriculum standards that will remain in place for a decade. Outside the meeting room at the William B. Travis Building, there is no shortage of opinions about the board’s work. Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports.
Posted in
Public Education
HuTube: Inside the SBOE Hearing
The show outside this week’s State Board of Education meeting is almost as interesting as the show inside.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: History Paige
Former U.S. Secretary of Education and Houston Superintendent Rod Paige this morning asked the State Board of Education to delay adopting its standards, saying they had “swung too far” to the ideological right and diminished the importance of civil rights and slavery. Asked if the board should delay a final vote expected Friday, he said, “Absolutely.”
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: The Church Board of Education
When they meet in Austin next week, social conservatives on the State Board of Education — some now lame ducks — may be going even further with amendments challenging the separation of church and state, entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, landmark desegregation cases and the work of muckraking journalists such as Susan B. Anthony and W.E.B. Du Bois. Another amendment amplifies a long-running effort to resuscitate the reputation of communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
