Rich Schools Hopeful Houston ISD Could Topple Robin Hood Plan
Texas has deemed an increasing number of schools as property-wealthy, requiring them to give up a share of their local tax dollars to help buoy poorer districts. Full Story
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Analysis: Texas Legislator Wonders if a New School Tax Might Bring Less Pain
State Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, wrote to his constituents about school finance and used these phrases along the way: statewide commercial property tax, consolidated funding districts, and statewide property tax. Yikes. Full Story
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![State Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls.]()
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School Finance Dividing Lines Emerge at Hearing
The fault lines that will define efforts to improve the state's system of funding education came into sharp focus Wednesday as a Senate panel began studying how to improve the "efficiency" of public schools in Texas. Full Story
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![Sen. Larry Taylor R-Friendswood and Sen. Eddie Lucio D-Brownsville during an Aug 3, 2016 Senate Education Committee hearing]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Lawmakers Look at Tying School Funding to Performance
Should Texas fund public schools based on their academic performance rather than just giving them a certain amount of money per student? State lawmakers are beginning to explore that idea. Full Story
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![Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
In School Choice Fight, a Fresh Force Emerges
An ambitious new player has emerged in the controversial effort to use taxpayer dollars to help Texas parents send their kids to private or religious schools. Full Story
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![Texans for Education Opportunity Executive Director Randan Steinhauser, also an adviser for National School Choice Week, speaks during a school choice rally at the Texas Capitol in 2015.]()
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New on TribTalk: Austin ISD President on School Finance Ruling
The Texas Supreme Court's school finance ruling means lawmakers now have a moral obligation to appropriately invest in the next generation of Texans, writes Kendall Pace, president of the Austin ISD board of trustees. Full Story
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Analysis: If School Finance System is Legal, Why Fix it?
A Texas Supreme Court decision saying the state’s school funding system is a big, stinking mess — but not an unconstitutional one — might be just the medicine to keep things just the way they are. Full Story
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![House Public Education Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, pulled down a school finance bill during the 84th legislative session on May 14, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Texas Supreme Court Rules School Funding System is Constitutional
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling upholding the state’s public school funding system as constitutional, while asserting it could be better. Full Story
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Video: A Conversation with Lozano and Lucio
Full video of my 2/25 conversation with state Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, and state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville. Full Story
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Video: A Conversation with Mike Morath
At our 1/22 symposium on urban public education, I talked accountability, demographic change, school choice and school finance with Mike Morath, the state's new commissioner of education. Full Story
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Texas Public Schools Are Poorer, More Diverse
The makeup of the Texas public school system has become less white and poorer in recent decades, according to the most recent data reflected in The Texas Tribune’s Texas Public Schools Explorer. Full Story
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![Schoolchildren watch the Veterans Day parade on Congress Avenue on Nov. 11, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Who Will Abbott Choose as the Next Texas Education Chief?
A look at who might be among Gov. Greg Abbott's choices as he ponders the possibilities to fill the post Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams will leave in January. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to appoint a new commissioner of education.]()
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Video: Hecht on the School Finance Case
At our 10/29 conversation, Chief Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court talked about the timing of a possible ruling on the state's appeal in the school finance lawsuit. Full Story
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Analysis: Shifting Figures in Your Property Tax Bill
Far more money is extracted from Texans in the form of state and local sales taxes, but property taxes are the source of more complaints. School taxes lead the list but account for a smaller share of the overall tax bill than 10 years ago. Full Story
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Experts: Expect Early 2016 School Finance Ruling
Citing past rulings and politics, experts and insiders are predicting the Texas Supreme Court will rule in the latest school finance appeal early next year, with some predicting a summertime special legislative session. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justices Paul Green, left, and Chief Justice Nathan Hecht listen to oral arguments Sept. 1 in Texas' appeal of a 2014 ruling that struck down its system of funding public schools as unconstitutional.]()
Credit: Eric Gay/AP -
State Urges Texas Supreme Court to Drop School Finance Lawsuit
“Money isn’t pixie dust” when it comes to improving public schools, lawyers for the state of Texas told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, arguing an appeal in what has been described as the most far-reaching school finance case in state history. Full Story
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![Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller addresses the state Supreme Court Sept. 1, 2015 during oral arguments in the latest school finance case. The state's highest civil court agreed to hear the state's appeal of a 2014 lower court ruling that struck down the state's method of funding public schools as unconstitutional. (AP/Eric Gay)]()
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Austin Sues Texas Over "Unequal" Property Appraisal System
The city of Austin filed a lawsuit Monday against the state of Texas charging that the current property appraisal system is unconstitutional and creates “an imbalance in the tax burdens between residential and commercial property owners.” Full Story
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Analysis: Public Education Funding With a Judicial Assist
The Texas Supreme Court is about to hear the latest challenge to the state's financing of public schools. Maybe they'll throw it out, but history says otherwise: This almost always means changes in school policy and increases in taxes. Full Story
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Analysis: Texas Schools, by the Numbers
You can peek at the state’s near future in the latest numbers from the Texas Education Agency: 51.8 percent Hispanic, 29.4 percent Anglo, 12.7 percent African-American, 3.7 percent Asian. Full Story
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![A reading assistant reads on the classroom floor with a small group of fourth graders at Wanke Elementary School in San Antonio on March 9, 2012.]()
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House Education Chief Aycock Will Not Seek Re-election
When the Texas Legislature tackles a long overdue overhaul of the state’s school finance system, it will have to do without the lawmaker who has shepherded its two chambers through complex education issues for the last two sessions. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock bids farewell to the Texas House in a speech on June 1, 2015.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich
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