A bill authorizing a major rethink of teacher evaluation in Texas public schools has teachers organizations scuffling with Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.
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
Senate OKs Teacher Evaluations
The Senate passed a bill today designed to ensure that all public school educators make the grade — by creating a teacher evaluation system.
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Health care
David Dewhurst: The TT Interview
With less than five weeks left to go in the session, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst sat down with the Tribune to talk about his future political plans, the status of the budget in the Senate and in the biennial parley between the Senate and the House, redistricting and the tug-of-war over the Rainy Day Fund.
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Public Education
Technicality Slays House Bill on Class Sizes — for Now
The House was set to debate a bill that would scrap a 27-year-old law mandating a 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through fourth grade today — but before it got the chance, state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, derailed the legislation with a point of order.
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Public Education
House Tentatively Passes Ban on Sugary Drinks at Schools
House Bill 127 would make middle and high school students leave campus if they want to satisfy their soda fix.
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Public Education
Anti-Bullying Bill Gets Early OK From Senate
After a spate of bullying related suicides in Texas schools, state lawmakers introduced more than 15 bills this session to address the issue. Today, the Senate approved one of them — SB 205 from Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.
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Public Education
What $7.8 Billion Less Means for Your School District
If the House has its way, there will be 7.8 billion fewer state dollars headed to Texas public schools. Here’s our searchable database built from state Rep. Scott Hochberg’s projections of how the funding cuts would hit 1,024 school districts across the state.
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Public Education
In Dallas, Acclaimed Magnet Schools Bear Brunt of Budget Cuts
Dallas’ top-notch magnet schools are at the heart of an identity crisis that has sent fissures through the state’s second-largest district, sparking emotional debates about how scarce funds should be spent during a time of financial reckoning.
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Public Education
2011 Rankings of More Than 5,800 Public Schools
The Texas Tribune has updated Children at Risk’s rankings of more than 5,800 public school campuses with 2011 figures. Explore them for yourself here.
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Demographics
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on a freshman lawmaker’s rogue antics, Aguilar on how cartel violence affects tick eradication, Galbraith on Midland’s water woes, Hamilton on the exit of a higher ed reformer, Murphy maps voting age by county, Philpott on the data breach at the Comptroller’s office, Ramsey on why Susan Combs needs to eat crow, my TribLive interview with U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Ramshaw on Cornyn’s refusal to take the “nickel tour” of Planned Parenthood, M. Smith annotates the contracts of superintendents, Stiles on a GOP-friendly redistricting map and Tan on a possible Rainy Day Fund raid: The best of our best content from April 18 to 22, 2011.