Bill White and Rick Perry fought over the hotly contested high school drop-out rate on Tuesday. Is it 30 percent (White)? 10 percent (Perry)? Or, more likely, somewhere in between?
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.
TribBlog: Katrina’s Exiles Thrived In Texas Schools [Updated]
More than five years after Katrina, a long-term Texas Education Agency study finds that Louisiana students in Texas schools — many who came from among the nation’s worst campuses — have generally thrived here.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Lobbyists and lawmakers are fighting to preserve the terms of the contracts signed by parents who enrolled in the Texas Tomorrow Fund prepaid college tuition plan.
The Textbook Myth
Despite all the handwringing about Texas’ influence on the textbook market nationally, it’s just not so, publishing insiders say. The state’s clout has been on the wane and will diminish more as technological advances and political shifts transform the industry.
TribBlog: California Shuns Texas Textbooks
A Golden State senator says our State Board of Education can put its conservative spin on U.S. history where the sun don’t shine.
The Wild Card
“I was taught evolution, and it didn’t shake my faith in the Almighty whatsoever,” says George Clayton, who pulled off a stunning upset of incumbent Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, R-Dallas, in the GOP primary to win a seat on the State Board of Education. “Should creationism be taught as a counter to evolution? … No, I don’t think so. I think evolution is in the science book. It should be taught as a science.”
TribBlog: Does Texas Already Mandate Health Insurance? [UPDATED]
Attorney General Greg Abbott is suing the feds for mandating that individuals buy health insurance. Some Texas political observers say Abbott did exactly that in 2009.
TribBlog: Bilingual Ed Decision Overturned
A 2008 federal court decision that ordered the state to restructure its bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs was overturned by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans today.
2010: Hinojosa, White Join Anti-SBOE Dogpile [UPDATED]
Where are their friends? Bill White wants Rick Perry to reject the State Board of Education’s social studies amendments, while a state senator pushes to do away with the board altogether.
TribBlog: SBOE vs. the Media
The State Board of Education accuses unnamed “media” of “erroneously” reporting its removal of Thomas Jefferson from state world history standards. Trouble is, the board statement is guilty of the same alleged lack of context, and it follows a pattern.

