We’ve annotated the contracts of the 10 highest-paid school superintendents, along with those who lead the state’s 10 largest districts, so readers can view their pay in the context of retirement benefits, performance incentives, and perks like automobile and cellphone allowances.
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
A Budget Problem Deferred — to Now
The 2006 tax swap — lowering local school property taxes and creating a new business tax to make up the difference — is at the center of Texas’ current budget troubles. The architects are still pointing fingers over what and whom to blame for the state’s “structural deficit.”
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Public Education
House Bill on Student Testing Reopens a Familiar Debate
A familiar battle between the Texas House and the Senate involves proposed changes in how the state should hold students and educators accountable.
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Public Education
Updated: SBOE Members: Why Not Use the Permanent School Fund?
Nine SBOE members say there’s a potential $2 billion for public schools in the state’s Permanent School Fund — but they need a constitutional amendment to get it.
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Public Education
Doggett Amendment on Federal Education Money Repealed
To avoid government shutdown, congressional Democrats agreed to repeal an amendment that would have prohibited Texas from using federal funds to replace, rather than supplement, state funding of schools.
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Public Education
More Student SSNs Were at Risk, TEA Says
The Social Security numbers of 164,406 students who graduated from eight Texas school districts over the past two decades were placed at risk for identity theft, according to Texas Education Agency documents obtained by The Texas Tribune.
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Public Education
For Military School Districts, A Funding War On Two Fronts
With budget gridlock in Washington, and massive education cuts at home, the Texas school districts that qualify for federal “Impact Aid” dollars are waging a war on two fronts.
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Public Education
House Passes Controversial School Testing Bill [Updated]
A bill from state Rep. Rob Eissler modifying how end-of-course exams factor into graduation led House Republicans into a debate over how best to handle student testing during what one called “extraordinary times” in public education.
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Public Education
House Committee Tackles School Finance
On the heels of a newly approved House budget that leaves public schools $7.8 billion short of what they’re entitled to under current funding formulas, the House Public Education Committee today considered a round of school finance bills.
Posted in
Economy
House Budget Shrinks Spending, Slashes Services
The Texas House started with a $164.5 billion budget and ended with the same total. But lawmakers spent the better part of a weekend making changes inside the budget for 2012-13 before giving it their approval, 98 to 49.