A new word cloud visualizes the bills filed so far according to their Texas Legislative Council assigned categories. After education, which accounts for more than a quarter of the bills, the top categories are elections, criminal procedure, vehicles and traffic, and taxation.
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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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Coalition Urges “Balanced” Budget Approach
A wide-ranging coalition of education, criminal justice, religious and charitable groups today called on Texas lawmakers to use more than a machete to balance the state budget this year.
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Public Education
How E-Textbooks Get Made
Electronic textbooks are increasingly touted as an alternative to the more expensive traditional ink-on-paper variety. But how do lessons make the jump from the print to digital?
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Economy
Unfunded But Vital?
Get acquainted with a phrase that will be oft-repeated in the upcoming 82nd Legislature’s brawls over public education: unfunded mandate. To help schools cope with any reduced funding, lawmakers will look to relax state regulations that create costs local school districts bear on their own or with limited help from the state. But will dropping these requirements hurt educational quality?
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw on how hard it is to sue over emergency room mistakes, Galbraith on paying for roads in an era of fuel-efficient vehicles, Aguilar on a disagreement about gun regulation, my interview with tort reformer Dick Trabulsi, Grissom on Perry’s parsimonious pardoning, Hu and Chang interactively look at House committee chairs, M. Smith on an election challenge and who’ll settle it, Ramshaw and Stiles on Dallas County’s blue streak and Hamilton on a Valley school district that leads the nation in preparing kids for college: The best of our best from Dec. 20 to 24, 2010.
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Higher Education
Kid’s College
In the 1980s, when the state’s education accountability systems were first put into place, Hidalgo’s high school was ranked among the bottom 10 percent of all schools in academic performance. Today, its students graduate at higher rates than the state average, and 98 percent complete a recommended or distinguished curriculum — all thanks to an unprecedented level of collaboration between local leaders in public and higher education that has permeated Hidalgo for the last five years and is taking hold elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley, providing new opportunities in some of the country’s poorest counties.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramsey on what a GOP supermajority means, Ramshaw on a crime victim not eligible for crime victims’ compensation, M. Smith on grave matters and state regulation, Hamilton on the college pipeline at San Antonio’s Jefferson High, Hu on a senator’s anticlimactic return, Grissom on the coming closure of juvenile lockups, Aguilar on the return of residents to their drug-war-torn Mexican town, Galbraith on next session’s energy agenda, Philpott on the legal fight over federal health care reform and Stiles on the travel expenses of House members: The best of our best from Dec. 13 to 17, 2010.
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Higher Education
Free Advice
The interim principal of San Antonio’s Thomas Jefferson High believes that the current juniors will be the school’s first with a 100 percent graduation rate and that many will go on to respected universities. One key factor: Allison Najera, a 2010 University of Texas graduate placed at Jefferson through a new program: the Texas College Advising Corps.
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Public Education
Parents Help School Officials Cut Budget
The Austin Independent School District says it will need to cut tens of millions of dollars from its budget over the next several years — and it wants local parents to help figure out where to start the trimming. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
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Public Education
TribBlog: New Efficiency Rankings for Public Ed
Even as Texas schools face budget cuts, their spending per student is on the rise, according to a new report from Comptroller Susan Combs that rates district expenditures against student achievement.