The vise squeezing Texas schools since the Legislature voted to remove $4 billion in state funding is getting a little tighter.
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
School Districts Shying Away From Tax Hike Elections
Texas school districts saw their budgets slashed dramatically this year, leaving many to try to raise taxes through elections. But as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, only about a dozen of the state’s 1,000-plus districts are considering the tax option.
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Public Education
31 Days, 31 Ways: Thousands of Texas Teachers Losing Jobs
DAY 1 of our 31-day series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Thousands of Texas teachers will not have jobs to return to in the fall, the result of a school finance plan that cut $4 billion from districts statewide.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson examines the Texas jobs “miracle,” Root on how Rick Perry built his financial portfolio, Tan and Wiseman on Perry vs. Ron Paul, Philpott on how budget cuts will affect a mental health provider, yours truly on a House freshman who was less than impressed with his first legislative experience, M. Smith on public schools charging for things that used to be free, Hamilton on a new call to reinvent higher education, Grissom on a rare stay of execution, Galbraith on the end of a Panhandle wind program, Aguilar on the increase of legal immigration into the U.S. and Texas: The best of our best content from July 25 to 29, 2011.
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Interactive: 2011 Texas School District Accountability Ratings
After changing its formula, the Texas Education Agency has released the 2011 accountability ratings for the state’s 1,228 districts. Search our ratings database and compare how your school fared this year compared to last.
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Public Education
With Change in Formula, School Ratings Drop Precipitously
The new accountability ratings released Friday for public school campuses in the state’s 1,228 districts and charter schools are markedly lower from the ratings given last year.
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Public Education
Anxiety Over STAAR Persists as New School Year Looms
A new standardized testing system will replace the TAKS exam this year, and as Kelsey Sheridan of KUT News reports, the switch to more difficult tests comes as schools are already grappling with reduced budgets.
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Public Education
Fees for Students Redefine “Free” Public School
As cash-strapped public schools attempt to squeeze every possible dollar out of their budgets, an unpleasant reality awaits parents: They will most likely have to pay for programs and services that schools once provided for free.
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Public Education
Change in Ratings Protocol Worries Some Schools
This will be the first year school accountability ratings will not contain a mechanism that, for some schools, had boosted their scores and led to higher ratings. Now they’ll have to explain to parents what the change means for their kids.
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Public Education
Updated: SBOE Gives OK to Science Supplements
After battle appeared to be brewing between the state education board’s left and right factions on contested language on evolution in one publisher’s biology lessons, members found a compromise: Let the education commissioner decide.