Gov. Rick Perry wasn’t interested in federal “Race to the Top” money before — and he isn’t now, either.
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
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramsey on what the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll says about the governor’s race, education, immigration, and other issues; Grissom on a far West Texas county divided over Arizona’s immigration law; Ramshaw talks health care reform and obesity in Texas with a legendary Dallas doctor; M. Smith on the Collin County community that’s about to break ground on a $60 million high school football stadium; Aguilar on the backlog of cases in the federal immigration detention system; Philpott of the Green Party’s plans to get back on the ballot; Hu on the latest in the Division of Workers’ Comp contretemps; Mulvaney on the punishing process of getting compensated for time spent in jail when you didn’t commit a crime; Hamilton on the fight over higher ed formula funding; and my sit-down with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin: The best of our best from May 24-28, 2010.
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Health care
Kenneth Cooper: The TT Interview
The world-renowned Dallas doctor who essentially invented jogging as exercise talks with the Tribune about health care reform, the crisis of obesity in Texas, and what lawmakers must do to shore up the physical-education legislation they passed last session.
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Public Education
Are You Ready for Some Football?
Allen High School is a study in bigness: A 5,000-student campus with a 650-member marching band supporting a football team that draws 8,000 fans to away games. And now — the pinnacle of suburban spoils — the Collin County community will break ground on an 18,000-seat stadium, the largest occupied by a single team. Pricetag: $60 million.
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Economy
A Lousy Grade
More than two-thirds of Texans say their confidence in the state’s public schools ranges from shaky to nonexistent, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. A majority of Texans believe that crime, low academic standards, lack of parental involvement and not enough funding are “major” problems that public schools face — but two-thirds say “too much religion in the schools” is not a problem.
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Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE’s Last Laugh
You know that prayer that before today’s State Board of Education meeting, which some found so inappropriate? It was read by arch-conservative Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond — but not written by her. In a gag on her detractors, she lifted the text from U.S. Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon Earl Warren.
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Public Education
TribBlog: History Standards in the Books
After a series of bombastic speeches, the State Board of Education just approved the social studies curriculum on a party line vote of 9-5, with Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, absent.
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Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE Pierces Church-State Wall
The State Board of Education instructs students to “contrast” the intent of the Founding Fathers with the modern legal interpretation of the separation of church and state.
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Public Education
TribBlog: Jefferson and the SBOE’s Enlightenment
At long last, Thomas Jefferson returns to the State Board of Education’s world history standards, where he had been excised to great controversy earlier.
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Public Education
TribBlog: Praying for Church and State [Updated]
In a morning prayer to open the State Board of Education meeting, social conservative member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, mixed worship with a constitutional argument against the separation of church and state — previewing the politically charged debate to come later today, as conservatives tackle their last big agenda item before approving the state social studies standards.