The four-year graduation rates at Texas’ public universities are staggeringly low. State officials acknowledge the numbers are dismal and are working to improve them. But not all higher ed leaders buy into the notion that such metrics matter.
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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Public Education
Activists Plan Revival of 2011 Education Protests
Last March, 13,000 protesters met in Austin to protest cuts to public education in what organizers called one of the biggest Capitol rallies in state history. This month, as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, the same group of activists, Save Texas Schools, plans to do it again.
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Public Education
Texas Lawmakers to Study School Finance
As more than 500 school districts sue the state over how it funds its public schools, Texas lawmakers announced today they would form an interim committee to study school finance.
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Public Education
An Updated Guide to the School Finance Lawsuits
The latest school finance lawsuit following the state’s $5.4 billion cut to public schools suggests that schools need more competition.
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Public Education
In Fifth School Finance Suit, A Focus on Efficiency
A group of parents in Texas filed the fifth school finance lawsuit in Austin today, focusing not on whether the state adequately pays for schools but rather if the way it distributes money is efficient and equitable.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
UT/TT Poll: Texans Split on Re-electing Perry
Gov. Rick Perry told us on Tuesday that he may run for re-election. Voters aren’t sold, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson interactively charts the legal wrangling between Texas and the feds, Aguilar on what Obama’s budget means for the border, Galbraith on congressional ambivalence about a wind tax credit, Grissom on cuts to crime victims services, Hamilton on UT-Austin’s plan to boost graduation rates, Ramsey on our woefully low voter turnout, Ramshaw on a new Super PAC targeting incumbents of both parties, Root on conservative opposition to the Keystone pipeline and M. Smith on cash-starved school districts in the advertising game: The best of our best content from February 13-17, 2012.
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Public Education
Texas Education Agency Delays STAAR’s 15 Percent Rule
Education Commissioner Robert Scott said today that he will postpone for a year a controversial requirement that new exams count for 15 percent of students’ final grades.
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Public Education
Turf for Sale: Schools Turn to Ads for Money
Texas school districts are getting into the advertising game as they look for ways to make ends meet after major state budget cuts. But some researchers question whether schools fully grasp the consequences of creeping commercialism.
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Public Education
Concerns About Final Grades Hang Over STAAR Debut
With the state set to debut its new STAAR tests this spring, concerns about how the tests will impact students’ final grades have begun to mount. And as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, parents aren’t the only ones worrying.