Texas spent less on students with disabilities. But did it break the law?
Texas will argue Wednesday at a federal appeals court that its decision to decrease special education funding several years ago did not violate federal law. Full Story
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![Vanessa Tijerina addresses the panel about her 13-year-old special needs child who has been denied special education for four years on December 13, 2016. U.S. Department of Education officials held a meeting in Edinburg on their tour of Texas to hear community members' experiences with special education, continuing an investigation of whether Texas is capping services for students with disabilities.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Property taxes rise, state education spending falls. That's the design.
Early discussions about the next state budget include an old and politically hazardous debate: Property values are rising, meaning the local share of education spending will rise while the state share drops. Full Story
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![Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath testifies before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance about education outcomes on Jan. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Texas projects state funding for schools to drop as local revenue grows
In a preliminary budget request, the Texas Education Agency revealed it expects the state to put less money into public education next year because of fast-increasing local property values. Full Story
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![Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Texans think state leaders are falling short on public education, UT/TT Poll finds
Texas voters aren't satisfied with the state's handling of public education and don't always agree on whether paying for it should be a state or local duty, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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Analysis: For hints to next year’s fights at the Texas Capitol, watch the investment advisers
Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. The political debates of this election year will foreshadow some of the issues you'll see when the Texas Legislature meets next year, but some of the best clues — sports gambling is one example — come from the financial advisers to public sector investors. Full Story
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![A football match between Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. Texas A&M won 67-0. Prairie View got $450,000 for showing up.]()
Credit: Courtesy, Texas A&M Athletics -
Researcher has educators asking: If Kansas schools need $2 billion, how much do Texas' need?
Texas A&M University professor Lori Taylor stunned Kansas lawmakers by recommending they increase their school funding by 44 percent. But what does that mean for Texas? Full Story
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![Professor Lori Taylor, director of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy, in her office at Texas A&M University in College Station on March 27, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas is finding a new way to call itself a red state
Glenn Hegar, the state's comptroller of public accounts, is warning lawmakers that Texas' bond ratings are at risk because of a couple of pending expensive problems. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Full Story
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![Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar discusses the sources of state revenue as he presents the Biennial Revenue Estimate at the Texas Capitol on Jan. 9, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Will Texas school finance panel tell schools to do more with less? Some members think it’s predetermined
As Texas' school finance commission is set to hold its next hearing, some members and policy experts are arguing the hearings seem set toward a predetermined outcome — making schools do more with the funding they have. 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 -
After federal probe, parents say Texas districts lack funding, staff to help kids with dyslexia
A federal report said Texas policy on how to serve students with dyslexia violates federal law. State officials say the policy was originally created to address a gap in federal law. Full Story
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![Katharine Margiotta's 13-year-old son has severe dyslexia and attends a middle school in the Austin Independent School District.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Local taxes in Texas have been rising to help pay for education. Who is to blame?
Lawmakers say local property taxes are getting too high. School leaders say the taxes are increasing because the state is taking on a smaller share of public education funding. Hey Texplainer, what's really happening? Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Emily Albracht -
Analysis: On Texas’ high property taxes, there’s plenty of blame to go around
State lawmakers are not solely to blame for the increasing burden on local property taxpayers, but they are certainly as responsible as anyone else. Full Story
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![A lawmaker reads a flyer with property tax information that was distributed to Texas House members' desks on Aug. 12, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas’ most persistent policy problem
You wouldn’t be out of line wondering why Texas school finance didn’t get fixed in 2017. Or 2015. Or 2013. But it’s because this is a hard policy problem and a harder political one. The prompt now is that property taxes have gotten so far out of hand that lawmakers have no choice but to act. 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 -
Texas panel set to discuss school finance fix. Can they iron out lawmakers’ disagreements?
The Texas Commission on Public School Finance will meet for the first time this week as it develops legislative recommendations for overhauling the state's beleaguered system for funding public education. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dan Huberty (left), R-Houston, and state Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Special education caps were the Texas Legislature's idea, educators say
In the wake of a federal report finding Texas was failing its kids with disabilities, educators say the state is to blame and that Texas legislators first suggested cutting back special education services to keep costs low. Full Story
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![Jean Gearhart gives a tearful statement with her husband Troy Gearhart to the panel about her special needs child. U.S. Department of Education officials held a meeting in Edinburg on their tour of Texas to hear community members' experiences with special education.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Analyses in the rearview mirror: School finance and property taxes
The end of the year is when property owners have to pay their taxes — an increasingly large bill in Texas that’s a key part of the state’s rickety school finance system. Here’s a sampling of columns tracking that debate in 2017. Full Story
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Texas schools weathered Hurricane Harvey, political strife in 2017
Take a look back at our 2017 public education coverage and read about how the Texas Legislature failed to overhaul the school finance system, how several Texas students and teachers are still recovering from a devastating hurricane, and more. Full Story
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![LaVeta Rodriguez, director of the Little Lights Learning Center stands among the unused cribs, toys and equipment in the baby room at the center in Rockport on Oct. 25, 2017. The school was damaged during Hurricane Harvey and has yet to re open.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Amid state cuts, a high school football coach got a $20,000 raise. His district says he's earned it.
As state cuts to public education become more common, school communities must frequently debate where and how to trim their limited budgets without harming students or teachers. Full Story
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![Carthage High head football coach and athletic director Scott Surratt received a $21,400 raise this year, while the district faced a nearly $7 million shortfall. School officials say Surratt paid for his own raise by bumping ticket sales and earning championship prize money.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas has more than one problem with government rats
The infestation of Norwegian rats in a state building where health regulators work is not only a big, embarrassing mess — it's a metaphor for a persistent problem in Texas government. Full Story
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School superintendents hit by Harvey ask lawmakers for help with recovery costs
At a House Public Education Committee hearing Thursday, superintendents rattled off long lists of unexpected costs they incurred after Hurricane Harvey swept through the Texas coast. Full Story
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![Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath discusses the scope of financial losses to Texas public schools affected by Hurricane Harvey at a House Public Education Committee hearing at the state Capitol on October 12, 2017.]()
Credit: Erika Rich for The Texas Tribune -
New school finance commission member discusses the road ahead
Doug Killian, the current superintendent of Pflugerville ISD, was recently named to the Texas Legislature's interim commission to study school finance. Read what he had to say about the challenges facing the commission. Full Story
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![Pflugerville ISD Superintendent Doug Killian will serve on the Legislature's interim commission to study school finance.]()
Credit: Pflugerville ISD
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