In a preview of a likely battle in the upcoming legislative session, state lawmakers on Friday heard testimony on school choice programs, including vouchers that would allow students to use public money to attend private schools.
Public Education
Explore The Texas Tribune’s coverage of public education, from K-12 schools and funding to teachers, students, and policies shaping classrooms across Texas.
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Economy
The Search for a Less Unpopular School Tax
As the state and its independent school districts head to court again in October to debate school financing, it’s still possible that the issue of a statewide property tax could be revisited.
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Public Education
ACT Report: 24 Percent of Texas High School Grads Are College Ready
Only about a quarter of the state’s Class of 2012 students are college ready, according to a new report by the ACT. Texas Education Agency officials attribute the numbers to an increase in students taking the test.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: About the Next Legislative Session…
For this week’s nonscientific survey of government and political insiders, we asked what will dominate the next legislative session and about the odds for school vouchers, high-stakes testing and a Medicaid expansion.
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Guides
Texplainer: What if Texas Schools Don’t Meet Federal Benchmarks?
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Texas public schools are supposed to have 100 percent passing rates in reading and math by 2014. The chances of meeting that benchmark are slim. So what happens next?
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Public Education
Texas Weekly Newsreel: Property Tax, Speed Limit, PAC Money
This week on the Newsreel, a look at property taxes versus sales taxes, 85-mph speed limits and Super PAC contributions from Texas.
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Public Education
Comparing School District Expenses Has Challenges
Because of the complexity of school finance, it’s tempting to turn to per-student spending to understand how well — or how poorly — a district is spending its money. But that approach has its perils.
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Energy
Weekend Insider: Pocket Prairies, School Spending
Houston conservationists reintroduce native plants to the area, and we examine how much money school districts spend per student.
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Public Education
New Online Marketplace Emerges After Changes to Textbook Buying Law
In 2011, Texas drastically changed the way it regulates school district purchases of instructional materials. Last week, a new online marketplace opened, giving districts more than 100,000 options to exercise their newfound freedoms.
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Public Education
In Hard Times, Staffing at Schools Closely Watched
How school districts manage personnel costs will be increasingly monitored as debate over efficiency progresses — as will the ways they have coped with the loss of roughly 25,000 employees they shed before the 2011-12 school year.