The latest Texas Education Agency news from The Texas Tribune.
Beaumont's Carrol A. Thomas, who makes $347,834 annually, is the highest-paid superintendent in Texas, even though his district of about 20,000 students is considerably smaller than those in other Texas cities. Full Story
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The state’s 1,030 school districts have — in total — $10.2 billion in reserves and another $2.1 billion in unspent federal stimulus money. Can they use that money to avoid draconian cutbacks? It's not that simple. Full Story
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A disk holding the Social Security numbers of thousands of current and former students in the Laredo Independent School District — a total of 24,903 — has gone missing, according to the Texas Education Agency. Full Story
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Atter making their presence known during election season, the various Tea Party groups in Texas continue to steer the political agenda. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
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School districts won't know exactly what nearly $10 billion in state cuts means to them until lawmakers pass a new school finance bill. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune takes a look at the first bill of the session that gives districts an idea of what to expect. Full Story
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School districts won't know exactly what nearly $10 billion in state cuts means to them until lawmakers pass a new school finance bill. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune takes a look at the first bill of the session that gives districts an idea of what to expect. Full Story
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The Texas Education Agency released new superintendent salary data this week, so we've updated our news app and added some new features. Full Story
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Thirteen-year-old Asher Brown’s death has given momentum to the more than 15 anti-bullying bills filed in the Legislature this session. The legislation is supported by teacher organizations and advocacy groups but has drawn opposition. Full Story
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The Senate Education Committee has sent legislation on minimum grading and attendance policies to the full chamber, but bills on residential development and special education policy have stalled. Full Story
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Texas school districts are bracing for budget cuts and layoffs in the coming months. And as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, education advocates are particularly concerned about the state's roll out of STAAR, a new testing system, in 2012. Full Story
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Texas school districts are bracing for budget cuts and layoffs in the coming months. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the cuts have some worried about 2012, when the state will roll out STAAR, a new testing system. Full Story
At last Wednesday's TribLive conversation, first-term House members Stefani Carter, R-Dallas, Cindy Burkett, R-Mesquite, and Rodney Anderson, R-Grand Prairie, explained why they think deep cuts to public education are possible. Full Story
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Cutting $10 billion public education funding could push more than two-dozen school districts from the group that receives state financing into the group that writes checks to the state to even things out between richer and poorer districts. Full Story
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Charter schools want access to the state's Permanent School Fund, which guarantees bond issues for traditional public schools, allowing them to secure advantageous interest rates. Not everyone is on board — including the traditional public schools. Full Story
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This week's episode of the TribCast features Evan, Ross, Ben and Matt on the supermajority in the Texas House, possible federal court challenges, the coming Census numbers, the Howard/Neil election challenge and the public school budget battle. Full Story
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A report from a conservative education think tank says social studies standards in Texas give students a distorted and politicized view of history that, in one case, resembles "Soviet schools harping on the glories of state socialism." Full Story
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In an interview with KRLD's Scott Braddock in Dallas, David Anthony, the departing superintendent of the state's third-largest school district, said districts are in a "difficult situation" as they try to meet new student achievement measures while coping with cuts. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry's State of the State speech on Tuesday was part pep rally, part budget proposal, with a dash of national politics. And, as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, Democrats weren't charmed. Full Story
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At the Texas Education Agency's first appearance before the Senate since the release of a budget that reduces school funding by $9.3 billion, senators called for a "full picture" of the state's spending on public education. Full Story
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With Texas public schools facing cuts of as much as $10 billion in state funding, predictions of the consequences have been dire: teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes, fewer instructional days. One topic conspicuously absent from the conversation: athletics. Full Story
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