Texas Senate proposes $3.7 billion for mandated teacher raises
Senate leaders say they will require districts to use the money to give $5,000 raises to each teacher. Full Story
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![Lt. Governor Dan Patrick address the crowd at the Oath of Office Ceremony at the capitol grounds. Jan. 15, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune -
Texas House proposes massive increase for public school funding
The proposed budget would increase state funds for education by about 17 percent but cut funding for health and human services by about 3 percent. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dennis Bonnen presiding over his first votes as speaker of the house. Jan. 9, 2019. Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune -
Point of Order: How Dan Huberty wants to fix school finance
In our new podcast, Point of Order, Evan Smith asks Dan Huberty, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, what it will take — and what it will cost — for state lawmakers to solve the state's most intractable problem. Full Story
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Dan Patrick says he won the fight over the bathroom bill, but at schools not much has changed
In 2017, Patrick pushed for the controversial measure that would have restricted the use of certain public facilities for transgender Texans, but it failed to become law. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at a joint press conference on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion on Jan. 9, 2019. Newly-elected House Speaker Dennis Bonnen was also present.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune. -
Analysis: Without new state money, is it still school finance reform?
Lawmakers are taking on school finance and property tax reform — gnarly policy issues that are expensive to tackle even if the state decides enough money is already being spent on public education in Texas. Full Story
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![State Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood (l.), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston (r.), chairman of the House Public Education committee, talk with Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston (facing), and Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio (back), on May 27, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott advocates for state takeover of Houston ISD’s school board in scathing tweet
Abbott criticized the district's leadership as a "disaster." Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the Resurgent Gathering of conservative party activists in Austin on August 3, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Catch up on some of The Texas Tribune's top projects from 2018
The Texas Tribune produced several deep-dive investigations in 2018 that examined various issues that affect Texans across the state. Here's a look at some of those standout projects. Full Story
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Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera / Reynaldo Leal / Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Texas school finance panel approves final report to lawmakers
The Texas Commission on Public School Finance — created last year to scrutinize the way the state funds K-12 education — finalized a report on Wednesday that includes more than 30 recommended improvements. Full Story
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![Commission member Todd Williams of Dallas, left, meets with TEA Commissioner Mike Morath and State Sen. Royce West at the Texas Commission on Public School Finance on Jan. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Watch Texas Tribune reporters discuss their project on school segregation
Watch as the Tribune's Alexa Ura and Aliyya Swaby discuss their reporting for the "Dis-Integration" series that examines the challenges school communities have faced in integrating their schools. Full Story
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Texas has failed to close educational gaps for kids of color. In Edgewood ISD, the fallout has lasted generations.
Edgewood ISD has faced consistent problems in preparing its students for college and the workforce. The district's struggles shine a light on Texas’ long record of neglecting schools that educate mostly students of color. Full Story
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![Carlos Lopez is a freshman at The University of Texas studying Biochemistry, while also holding down a part time job at HEB. He graduated high school from John F. Kennedy, a small school on the west side of San Antonio and feels unprepared for what he has experienced at UT. He studies at the Student Academic Center on campus, December 7, 2018. Although he feels his public education underprepared him for UT and an advisor suggested changing his major, he does not want to give up.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
A Texas school contractor says she lost her job because she won't promise not to boycott Israel. Now she's suing.
The school severed its contract with the speech pathologist because of state law banning Texas government contracts with companies that boycott Israel. Full Story
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![The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announces the filing of a lawsuit against Texas' "No Boycott of Israel" law, on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018 in Austin. Speaking is plaintiff Bahia Amawi, a teacher in the Pflugerville Independent School District who was forced to sign a pledge against her beliefs in order to get paid. She later quit her job as a speech therapist in the district. In the back are attorney Gadier Abbas and CAIR director Mira Sheikh.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: You can't fix Texas school finance until you agree on the meaning of "fix"
Changing the way public schools are funded is hard even when everyone agrees on the problem. But Texas lawmakers will first have to figure out if they're aiming to lower property taxes, increase spending on public education — or just change how the money is distributed. Full Story
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![Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister, chairman of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, listens to a commission member at the panel's second meeting on Feb. 8, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott's proposal would provide more tax relief than new school funding
His pitch is one of a long list of recommendations a state school finance panel will send to lawmakers later this month. Full Story
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![State Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, l, chats at the lunch break with chairman Justice Scott Brister at the Texas Commission on School Finance meeting on Jan. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Richardson ISD's student demographics have significantly changed. The makeup of its school board hasn't.
Only one person of color has ever served on the Richardson ISD board. Now, he's suing the district over its method of electing school board members, alleging it denies people of color a fair say in who represents them. Full Story
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![Karen Hill (sp?) in her home in the Hamilton Park subdivision of Dallas. Her father, A. Maceo Johnson was a school teacher and had other prominent career rolls in education and served on the Dallas Civil Service Commission.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
San Antonio ISD is innovating to integrate its schools. Is it leaving some behind in the process?
To stem the exodus of students to private and charter schools, San Antonio ISD is redesigning dozens of schools that now offer popular educational programs. Families and educators at those schools are thrilled, but people at other schools feel left out. Full Story
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![Brian Sparks is the principal at Lamar Elementary School in San Antonio. He helps out with cafeteria duties on the first day of school.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: A tight-fisted Texas Legislature with expensive ambitions
State lawmakers are loath to raise taxes, but they need to find money somewhere if they want to give local school property taxpayers a break — a primary goal for many of the state's top leaders. Full Story
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Here's our talk with NPR's 1A on Longview ISD and our school segregation series
Texas Tribune reporters Alexa Ura and Aliyya Swaby talked to 1A about the first installment of their "Dis-Integration" project, which focuses on Longview ISD and its efforts to topple barriers for students of color. Full Story
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![Longview beats rival Lufkin 35-28 for the season opener at Longview High School, August 31, 2018. Earlier this year the 1970 federal segregation order was lifted for Longview ISD.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
It took this Texas school district 48 years to desegregate. Now, some fear a return to the past.
Though students of color in Longview ISD still don’t have the same educational opportunities as white students, a federal judge dismissed a longstanding desegregation court order. Will the district succeed without it? Full Story
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![Longview beats rival Lufkin 35-28 for the season opener at Longview High School, August 31, 2018. Earlier this year the 1970 federal segregation order was lifted for Longview ISD.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Is ending a tax break easier to swallow than a tax hike?
Lawmakers looking to realign the state's public school finances while also cutting local property taxes can't do both without a lot of money. They don't want to raise taxes, but they have nearly $60 billion in annual tax exemptions that might provide a solution. Full Story
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![State Comptroller Glenn Hegar presents the Biennial Revenue Estimate to waiting legislators, state officials and the press on January 9, 2017. Hegar predicts a tight budget with falling revenue from Texas oil and gas production and sales taxes.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
As a deadline nears, struggle between George P. Bush and State Board of Education isn't letting up
Bush presides over the School Land Board, which has feuded with the State Board of Education over the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars from Texas' education endowment. Full Story
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![Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Dec. 5, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune