Past Contributions

• San Antonio Considers Tax for Pre-K Initiative

  By Morgan Smith June 29, 2012

  An eighth-of-a-cent sales tax increase is being proposed in San Antonio to fund full-day pre-kindergarten for primarily low-income children in the city. Full Story 

• A Tale of Two Parties

  By Ross Ramsey, Morgan Smith, Julián Aguilar and Jay Root June 29, 2012

  Big tents and boos on one hand, and talk about how to start a fire on the other: Notes from the Republican Party's convention in Fort Worth and from the Democratic Party's convention in Houston. Full Story 

• Workforce Commissioner: Education Testing System is Broken

  By Morgan Smith June 28, 2012

  Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken said he disagrees with a coalition of business leaders who said it would oppose any additional funding to public education if the existing accountability system is rolled back. Full Story 

• Business Leaders Draw a Line on Education Funding

  By Morgan Smith and Zoë Gioja June 27, 2012

  In a news conference on Wednesday, leaders in the business community said that they would not stand for increased funding for education if it came with any rollback of accountability standards in Texas public schools. Full Story 

• Charter Schools to File School-Finance Lawsuit

  By Morgan Smith June 26, 2012

  Texas is now about to face six lawsuits targeting the way it funds public schools. The Texas Charter School Association announced Tuesday it would join in legal action against the state over school financing. Full Story 

• Fired Jasper Police Chief at the Center of a Divide

  By Morgan Smith June 22, 2012

  Former Police Chief Rodney Pearson has become a reluctant symbol for many in Jasper's black community of how little has changed in race relations since James Byrd Jr.’s dragging death. Full Story 

• Platform Splinters

  By Morgan Smith June 22, 2012

  Though in theory the platform sets forth official positions on topics as diverse as foreign policy and legislative procedure — and as specific as the HIV/AIDS crisis and the federal minimum wage— many officeholders take it as more of a guide than a rulebook.This year, the biggest debate may be not about what the document says, but what it doesn't. Full Story 

• In Jasper, Black Leaders Say Tensions Escalating After Chief's Dismissal

  By Morgan Smith June 19, 2012

  Jasper continues to deal with fallout from the dismissal of its first black police chief. Black community leaders in the East Texas town say racial tensions are at "an all-time high." Full Story 

• Defamation Lawsuit Puts New Statute to the Test

  By Morgan Smith June 18, 2012

  A defamation lawsuit filed by WallBuilders founder David Barton has become an early test of new tort reform legislation intended to protect free speech. Full Story 

• Jasper Police Chief Firing Exposes Rift in City Politics

  By Morgan Smith June 15, 2012

  The short-lived tenure of Jasper's first black police chief — and the public feuding it has provoked — threatens to wrench open still healing wounds from the town's troubled past. Full Story