Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams on Friday announced that he would defer a rule that requires state end-of-course exams count for 15 percent of high school students’ final grades.
Public Education
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Public Education
Perry Supports Letting Districts Decide on 15 Percent Rule
Gov. Rick Perry has come out in favor of allowing school districts to choose whether to implement a rule requiring that new state assessments count for 15 percent of high school students’ final grades.
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Public Education
Texas High School Graduation Rates Among Top Nationally, But Why?
While skeptics say reporting requirements for state graduation rates contain too many loopholes, other education policy experts say Texas deserves credit for implementing innovative programs to keep students in school.
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Public Education
Case May Affect Future of High-Tech Student IDs
Between a legal challenge and a proposed bill, the usage of radio frequency ID cards — which can track the whereabouts of students while on campus — is coming under increasing pressure.
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Public Education
Texas School Districts, Charters Are Finalists in Federal Competition
A few Texas school districts and charters are finalists for funds through a new version of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. Texas had refused to participate in the program at the state level in 2010, citing concerns over federal intrusion into Texas classrooms.
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Public Education
Texas High School Graduation Rates Among Highest in U.S.
According to new U.S. Department of Education data, Texas has the fourth-highest graduation rate in the nation.
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Public Education
TribLive: New State Reps. on Public Education
At this morning’s TribLive conversation, incoming state Reps. Cecil Bell Jr., Giovanni Capriglione and Mary Gonzalez talked about school finance, standardized testing and the prospect of school choice legislation in the 83rd Session.
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Public Education
School Districts Could Lose Tax Incentive Powers
Chapter 313, a provision of the state’s tax code that allows school districts to use tax cuts to lure large corporations, will expire unless lawmakers act to renew it next year.
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Public Education
Defining “Adequate” in Financing Texas Schools
Since 1984, Texas has faced six lawsuits over public school funding. Over the years, a chorus of conservative voices has posed another fix for the school finance problem: Why not just change the duties under the state Constitution?
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Public Education
School Finance Trial Presses On
The massive trial involving more than two-thirds of the state’s school districts and most of its charter schools has been under way for two weeks now — and while the evidence will continue to pour in until January, the arguments of all seven parties, including the state, have taken shape.