Thevenot on the non-stop wonder that is the State Board of Education and its latest efforts to set curriculum standards, E. Smith’s post-election sit-down interview with Bill White at TribLive made some news and got the November pugilism started, Ramshaw on whether it makes sense for the state to call patients and remind them to take their pills, and on the state’s botched attempt to save baby blood samples for medical research, Hamilton’s interview with Steve Murdock on the state’s demographic destiny, M. Smith on whooping cranes, fresh water, and an effort to use the endangered species act to protect them both, Grissom on potties, pickups, and other equipment purchased with federal homeland security money and Stiles’ latest data and map on where that money went, Aguilar on the “voluntary fasting” protesting conditions and treatment at an immigrant detention facility, Kreighbaum on football, the new sport at UTSA, and Philpott on Rick Perry and Bill White retooling their appeals for the general election. The best of our best from March 8 to 12, 2010.
Higher Education
Coverage of universities, colleges, student issues, and education policy shaping Texas’ campuses, from The Texas Tribune.
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Higher Education
“We’re Outnumbered”
At Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting, as conservatives had their way with social studies standards, voting to limit the discussion of race and gender issues and to challenge the notion of separation of church and state, Democratic members were left to sulk and seethe — and walk out.
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Economy
2010: White Starts the Argument [Updated]
Democrat Bill White said he won’t rely on “Soviet-style budgeting” and “hot air politics” if he’s elected governor, and said the state should make education its first priority and would be better off with a governor who’s got business experience when it comes to economic development.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: More FBS Ambitions
UT-San Antonio isn’t the only Texas university looking to make a jump to FBS football competition.
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Higher Education
A Whole New Ball Game
The University of Texas at San Antonio hopes the fastest route to tier-one status is straight down the middle of the football field.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: UT System Regents Hike Tuition
The cost of higher education at UT schools will rise between 9 and 12 percent over the biennium, one in which officials fear steep cuts in the state portion of higher education financing.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Financial Aid May Face Budget Ax
About three-fourths of the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s budget is student financial aid, a large portion of which the board proposes to cut in a mandated 5-percent reduction plan for all state agencies.
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Higher Education
Trading Places
Texas, that famous bastion of conservatism, has become a leading exporter of agricultural products to communist Cuba — second only to Louisiana among the 50 states.
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Higher Education
The Old College Try
Since 1999, the number of “dual-credit” students — those who take college courses while still in high school — across Texas has ballooned from fewer than 12,000 to more than 91,000. It’s a trend that’s likely to continue as state and local policymakers search for ways to better align curricula and to push more kids to continue their education. “Schools have started to look at it as great for kids who might not have thought they were college material,” says an official at the Higher Education Coordinating Board. “It’s both a gifted-and-talented program and a college-accessibility program.”
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Starr to Baylor: It’s Official
Kenneth Starr will be introduced tomorrow as the 14th president of Baylor University in Waco, confirming the rumors that began circulating widely over the weekend.