The bill, introduced months after the Uvalde school shooting, also allocates more funds to the state’s school safety allotment, which is money given to districts to improve campus security.
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
Mayor Sylvester Turner expects the state will soon take over Houston ISD
The Texas Education Agency has been in a legal battle to take over the state’s largest school district since 2019.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Republican Texas lawmakers rally around bill restricting the college sports teams transgender athletes can join
Seventy-seven Texas House Republicans signed on as co-authors to state Rep. Valoree Swanson’s bill extending restrictions on transgender athletes to college sports. Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the legislation, which is also a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
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Economy
Business and legislative leaders push to replace expired tax break with a new one
Business groups warned lawmakers that Texas could lose business to other states without something to replace the so-called Chapter 313 tax break, which gave some companies big breaks on school taxes.
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Texas Legislature 2023
A Texas lawmaker wants voters to decide whether legislators deserve a raise
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, has proposed an amendment to the state constitution to raise legislator pay and tie it to teachers’ pay, saying it would give lawmakers a living wage and allow a broader range of Texans to serve.
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Public Education
Texas teachers need raises, more training and better working conditions to fix shortages, state task force finds
The yearlong review also recommends increasing the funds schools get per student, a measure already favored by lawmakers looking how to spend a historic state budget surplus.
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Public Education
School districts face millions in extra costs as Texas program that backs bond debt hits its limit
Without the state’s safety net, districts with pending bond projects must now decide whether to pay more in interest or halt construction.
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Guns in Texas
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom
The incident comes as lawmakers debate how to make schools safer after the Uvalde massacre and favor measures like arming more educators.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.
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Juvenile Justice
In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp
Police often can’t tell if a cannabis vape pen is derived from marijuana or legal hemp, like the delta-8 products on display in gas stations across Texas. That doesn’t stop them from making felony arrests in high schools.