Whether you call it a wave, a rout or a tsunami, one thing is clear: Republicans in the Texas House won a massive mandate for conservative bills — and budgeting — in the coming legislative session.
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
TribBlog: War of Attrition Rates
A new study by the nonprofit education advocacy group Intercultural Development Research Association says 29 percent of Texas students who enter high school as freshmen do not graduate. The attrition rate is the lowest in the 25 years since the IDRA began performing the annual study. But the group notes that while the trend is declining, millions more Texans will drop out by 2040.
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Public Education
Audio: TT Interview With Mike Feinberg
An interview with the co-founder of the KIPP charter school network.
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Public Education
Mike Feinberg: The TT Interview
The co-founder of the KIPP charter school network on why its approach to education reform has flourished in Texas, whether the model can work for any kid or any family and if teachers’ unions are really the villain they’re made out to be in Waiting for Superman.
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Higher Education
College Orientation
More than a quarter-century has passed since a landmark suit against Texas A&M University established the right of gay student groups to form on college campuses. Yet all these years later, half of the university systems in the state — the Texas A&M University System, the Texas State University System and the Texas Tech University System — do not include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Delay of Game
A federal judge on Wednesday declined to rule on a request for an injunction filed by a group of high school sports officials seeking to prevent what they call a government takeover of an independent contracting agency.
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Higher Education
Friday Night Lights Out?
The drama of the gridiron has found its way into a federal courtroom in a standoff between the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League. With the threat of a lockout of referees and their ilk, the result could be the hiring of scabs to replace them — or even the halting of games — just weeks before one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated moments in Texas: the start of high school football playoffs.
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Demographics
An Hour With Bill White
On Friday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White sat down with me for an interview co-presented by the Tribune and Austin’s public broadcasting stations, KUT and KLRU. We talked about whether the big bucks he’s raised from appointees qualifies as “government for sale,” how he’d cut the shortfall, how he feels about Barack Obama, the health care reform he’d prefer, those lawsuits against the feds and more.
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Demographics
2010: Rick Perry Interview Highlights
Watch highlights from Gov. Rick Perry’s interview with Evan Smith on Friday. In the clips, Perry discusses whether Texas is a sanctuary state, and the effectiveness of abstinence education.
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Public Education
Where They Stand: SBOE District 10
Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune is reporting this week on the hard-fought battles for Central Texas seats on the State Board of Education. Today: where candidates in District 10 — which covers 16 counties, including Williamson, Bastrop and parts of Travis — stand on a variety of issues.