The latest school finance news from The Texas Tribune.
Morgan Smith explains how some parents are choosing not to let their children take the new and rigorous STAAR tests. And Kate Galbraith tells us how state officials may use money from BP for coastal restoration. Full Story
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Some high-profile members of the education community aren't pleased with Texas Education Agency chief Robert Scott's speech on Tuesday criticizing the role of testing in schools. Full Story
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Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott received a standing ovation today after he told a gathering of public school educators that the state testing system has become a "perversion of its original intent." Full Story
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Tan and Dehn talk to some of Gov. Rick Perry's allies about his return to Texas, Aaronson maps (interactively!) the insured and the uninsured among us, E. Smith's TribLive interview with state Rep. David Simpson on Perry's race and TSA pat-downs, M. Smith on a Texas school so broke it's shutting down sports, Whitney on a split in the legal community over divorce forms, KUT's Philpott on abuse in state hospitals, Ramshaw reports on the governor's decision not to repay taxpayers for protection during his presidential campaign and Aguilar on the state's attempts to put its voter ID law in force: The best of our best content from January 23-27, 2012. Full Story
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Emily Ramshaw explains how family planning clinics are complying with the state's new abortion sonogram law. Morgan Smith shows us a school district that is canceling its sports program. Full Story
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As it has since the Trib's launch in 2009, data continued to reign supreme on the site in 2011. Today, we take a look at the 10 most-visited data apps since Jan. 1. Full Story
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Aaronson on Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund, Aguliar on the DOJ's Joe Arpaio problem, Galbraith on the uncertainty about Texas' electric grid, Grissom and Schwartz of The New York Times on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton on the first leg of Perry's Iowa bus tour, Murphy and McLain unveil our new campaign finance database, Ramsey et al. go live with the first round of our 2012 election brackets, Root on a GOP rival's queries about Perry's pension play, M. Smith contrasts the various school finance lawsuits and Tan, Dehn and Murphy on a shortage of mental health professionals: The best of our best content from December 19-23, 2011. Full Story
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By the end of the year, there will likely be four school finance lawsuits filed against the state. Here's a primer. Full Story
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After 20 years, Scott Hochberg is bailing out of the Texas Legislature. He’ll get back his nights and weekends. But he also won't be at the Capitol to help sort out education policy and financing. Full Story
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Texas has a long history of school finance lawsuits, many of them fought over the same themes. But in the latest round, one phrase has been conspicuously absent from the discussion: Robin Hood. Full Story
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Voters clearly want good schools and nice roads and low taxes. It's a political and policy question straight out of a business textbook: What's the right balance of price and quality? Full Story
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Ramshaw and Root on the debate that dominated the nation's political news, Tan and Ramshaw on how it will affect Rick Perry's campaign, Philpott on what "oops" might mean for Perry in South Carolina, Root on what it means in Iowa, Dehn with the latest Weekend Insider video, Galbraith on the split fates of water-related constitutional amendments, Grissom on an arrest in a 1986 murder case, Hamilton on UT-Arlington's efforts to control tuition costs and M. Smith, Murphy and Gerdau on West Texas schools raising money with wind farms: The best of our best content from November 7 to 11, 2011. Full Story
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Judges have been telling legislators what to do since we set up government to replace knife fights and bar brawls. And legislators use the courts to make them do unpopular but necessary things that voters don't like. School finance, for instance. Full Story
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The primary elections come in less than five months. The general election is about a year away. When that's all out of the way, we'll all be talking about lawsuits — some that have been filed, some that will be filed later — on school finance and franchise taxes. Full Story
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Aaronson interactively asks if stimulus funds created jobs in Texas, Aguilar on new voter registrar rules that could decrease voter turnout, Galbraith on a UT professor's debunking of climate change "myths," Grissom on an epic clash of El Paso political titans, Hamilton on the right's new higher ed guru, Murphy maps household data from the 2010 Census, Ramsey on a coming rules fight in the Texas Senate, Root and M. Smith on Rick Perry's performance at the New Hampshire debate and M. Smith talks public ed cuts with the state's Superintendent of the Year: The best of our best content from October 10-14, 2011. Full Story
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This week, we asked the insiders whether the school finance lawsuits will play in the elections and in the next legislative session. Full Story
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The lawsuits are back for the sixth time in the last 40 years, carrying the issue that dominated Rick Perry's first years as governor: Is the state spending enough money, and distributing it fairly enough, to ensure that every kid in the state has a shot at an adequate public school education? Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Reeve and Jim review the most recent debate, discuss the looming lawsuits on school finance and consider proposals for Confederate flag license plates. Full Story
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The lawsuits over public education funding that are currently taking shape will be the latest in a long history of court intervention in Texas' school finance system. But how much can the judiciary do to fix it? Full Story
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Within the education community, there have been rumors about a possible school finance lawsuit since well before the legislative session got under way. Now, with $4 billion less in public funding and a daunting new student assessment program on the horizon, those rumors have become a reality. Full Story
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