The latest public education news from The Texas Tribune.
In this week's edition of the Trib+Edu newsletter: Vaccine exemptions in Texas come under scrutiny, applicants for Teach for America drop drastically and an interview with Jean Madsen and Mario Torres, professors of educational administration at Texas A&M University. Full Story
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The roughly 28,000 public high school seniors who still need to pass a state exam to get their diplomas this May could get a lifeline from Texas legislators. Full Story
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UPDATED: Gov. Greg Abbott, delivering his first major policy address to the Texas Legislature, laid out an ambitious agenda, including an expansion of pre-kindergarten, massive tax cuts and roads as far as the traffic-glazed eye can see. Full Story
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Bipartisan appears to be a dirty word in a couple of the special election contests set to be finally decided on Tuesday. Full Story
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At our 2/12 conversation, state Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, talked about the need to fix the state's method of school finance. Full Story
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The House’s chief budget writer on Thursday praised a proposal to overhaul the school finance system by grouping the state’s 1,026 regular school districts into a few "school finance districts" — a tax move aimed at equalizing per-student funding statewide. Full Story
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The debate over the expansion of rights to carry guns onto university campuses and openly with a permit moves from rallies outside the Capitol to legislative hearings inside the building today. Full Story
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Joined by the father of a Texas high school student who died of sudden cardiac arrest, three state lawmakers on Wednesday proposed requiring heart screenings for high school athletes. Full Story
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Education Commissioner Michael Williams said Wednesday that the state does not have the authority to satisfy federal officials’ desire for a more overarching system. Full Story
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As we follow bills on public ed during the 84th legislative session, we'll keep you updated on legislation addressing school choice and vouchers. Stay caught up with our 84th Lege page, and subscribe to our Trib+Edu newsletter for more education news. Full Story
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Rick Perry had some choice words in an interview Thursday with the Tribune and the Washington Post on what separates him from Ted Cruz. Full Story
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More than 38,000 Texas students — about 0.75 percent of the state's overall school-age population — had nonmedical exemptions to school immunization laws in the 2013-14 school year, according to state data. Search our table to see the totals for your district or private school. Full Story
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In this week's edition of the Trib+Edu newsletter: Lawmakers float incentive payments for districts offering full-day pre-K, a new magazine teaches kids financial literacy and an interview with Sarah Powell, a University of Texas assistant professor in the Department of Special Education. Full Story
The ability of Austin tech firm 21CT to secure a $20 million Medicaid fraud software contract through a no-bid program run by the state's Department of Information Resources drew intense scrutiny from Senate budget writers on Tuesday. Full Story
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As we follow bills on public ed during the 84th legislative session, we'll keep you updated on legislation addressing educator quality. Stay caught up with our 84th Lege page and subscribe to our Trib+Edu newsletter for more education news. Full Story
Two lawmakers in the Texas House have presented a plan for a major overhaul of early education in the state. The measure would create an incentive payment system for school districts offering full-day pre-kindergarten programs. Full Story
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During the legislative session, we're compiling "hot lists" of issues across several policy areas. This week, our Lege page's featured hot list is Public Education. Use it to stay updated during the session, and subscribe to our Trib+Edu newsletter for more education news. Full Story
The weekend saw more lengthy stories on problems in the way the state contracts out services. Full Story
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On Fox News Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott and former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett debated Common Core – standards overseen by the National Governors Association that Texas lawmakers refuse to use. Full Story
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House Public Education Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock announced Friday that his daughter would be stepping down from her role as a lobbyist for education issues for the upcoming legislative session. Full Story
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