With the more-rigorous STAAR testing system set to debut this year, a backlash appears to building against standardized testing in the state. And some legislators are mulling how to postpone some of the tests’ consequences for students. Full Story
A teachers group has urged Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session to address education funding. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, there's still plenty of disagreement on what fixing the school funding system would actually mean. Full Story
Texas Education Agency commissioner Robert Scott touched off political controversy this week when he told a gathering of 4,000 school officials in Austin that standardized testing had gone too far in Texas. Full Story
Morgan Smith explains how some parents are choosing not to let their children take the new and rigorous STAAR tests. And Kate Galbraith tells us how state officials may use money from BP for coastal restoration. Full Story
Some high-profile members of the education community aren't pleased with Texas Education Agency chief Robert Scott's speech on Tuesday criticizing the role of testing in schools. Full Story
The Dallas-based breast cancer prevention group Susan G. Komen for the Cure has halted its financial support of Planned Parenthood, yet another blow to the family planning organization that provides abortions in some of its clinics. Full Story
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott received a standing ovation today after he told a gathering of public school educators that the state testing system has become a "perversion of its original intent." Full Story
At our Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg on 1/24, state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and state Reps. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, and Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg, discussed cuts to public education, redistricting and other by-products of the 82nd Legislative Session. Full Story
Tan and Dehn talk to some of Gov. Rick Perry's allies about his return to Texas, Aaronson maps (interactively!) the insured and the uninsured among us, E. Smith's TribLive interview with state Rep. David Simpson on Perry's race and TSA pat-downs, M. Smith on a Texas school so broke it's shutting down sports, Whitney on a split in the legal community over divorce forms, KUT's Philpott on abuse in state hospitals, Ramshaw reports on the governor's decision not to repay taxpayers for protection during his presidential campaign and Aguilar on the state's attempts to put its voter ID law in force: The best of our best content from January 23-27, 2012. Full Story
The insiders think Ron Paul's biggest obstacle is Ron Paul, are pessimistic about Texas Democrats, and predict Democratic primaries focused on education and Republican primaries focused on spending and taxes. Full Story
Emily Ramshaw explains how family planning clinics are complying with the state's new abortion sonogram law. Morgan Smith shows us a school district that is canceling its sports program. Full Story
In a state where the football field is hallowed turf, Premont ISD has suspended all athletics — including football — to improve its struggling finances. Full Story
In a rare move in a state where the football field is hallowed turf, Premont ISD has suspended all athletics — including football — to improve its struggling finances. But the decision has brought little backlash from the community in South Texas, perhaps a measure of how dire the school's circumstances have become. Full Story
In a daring and rare move in a state where the football field is hallowed turf, a superindent has suspended all athletics to help his South Texas district improve its struggling finances. Full Story
Texas lawmakers on Monday reviewed how schools are planning to implement a new standardized testing system, and as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, they came armed with plenty of questions. Full Story
Tan and Root on the Texas presidential candidates returning to the state where Rick Perry started his campaign, Philpott on Perry's swipes at Mitt Romney, Ramshaw on Griffin Perry's tweets, M. Smith on the next round of fights over student testing, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, yours truly on the sliding primary election calendar, Hamilton on higher-education efforts to bolster the Texas work force, Grissom's interview with John Raley, Galbraith on the greenhouse gas wars and Aguilar on making it easier for immigrants to return to the U.S.: The best of our best content from January 9 to 13, 2012. Full Story
Full video of our 1/12 TribLive conversation with the conservative activist, who heads the watchdog groups Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. Full Story
This year, for the first time, students' scores on standardized tests will count 15 percent toward their final grades. It sounds straightforward, but how some districts are applying the so-called 15 percent rule threatens to spark the next political battle over a test that has seen plenty of them. Full Story
Cultural institutions that once counted on revenue from student field trips are feeling the hit of the state's multibillion-dollar education cuts. Full Story
At our Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston on 12/14, state Reps. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, and Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, discussed cuts to public and higher education and other byproducts of the 82nd Session. Full Story