TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY

A conversation caught on a live microphone between Superintendent Marc Puig and a trustee about hiring a consultant led to the action.

South San ISD leaders held a special meeting Monday to discuss the possibility of placing the school Superintendent Marc Puig on paid administrative leave and asking the Texas Education Agency for a monitor, citing a conflict of interest with the recently placed monitor.

The so-called “critical race theory” law prohibits teachers from discussing “a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.”

The school district was previously investigated months ago.

Gaps in student learning because of pandemic disruptions could impact students in the long term.

For the second time in two years, the South San iSD board is under investigation by the state for interfering with the superintendent's job.

Students at Harmony Science Academy are learning how to 3D print objects they create in a Maker Space classroom made possible by Texas Education Agency grants and $46,000 in shared funding from the Elon Musk Foundation.

United ISD’s Cherish Center recently hosted visitors from Rio Grande City Grulla ISD,...

The Texas Education Agency is accepting applications for Texas COVID Learning Acceleration Supports, a program that helps provide tutoring to students who have fallen behind due to due COVID-19.

After a federal judged overruled Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order banning COVID-19 mask mandates, Texas schools can now set their own rules.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov.[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has released two previous letters this month decrying the availability of "pornography" in school libraries.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools violates the Americans with Disabilities Act — freeing local officials to again create their own rules.

Gov. Greg Abbott ramped up pressure on public schools Wednesday morning after ordering the Texas Education Agency to investigate “pornographic books” and “obscene content” in Texas public schools.

It’s unclear why the governor tasked the state's education agency, which does not employ law enforcement officers, to perform the investigation.

Abbott targeted two books that have been removed by schools recently that center on LGBTQ characters. One of the books includes a graphic illustration and the other includes depictions of sex.

HARLINGEN — The San Benito school district has “strictly” denied allegations presented to the Texas Education Agency claiming four school board members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Texas House committee to investigate school districts’ books on race and sexuality

A state lawmaker has notified the Texas Education Agency that he is investigating what type of books Texas school districts have.

State Rep. Matt Krause, a candidate for state attorney general, asked school superintendents to confirm whether any books on a list of 850 titles are in their libraries and classrooms.

Families of students in special education programs who have been affected by school closures due to COVID-19 can apply for a $1,500 grant from the Texas Education Agency.

Nearly three months into this school year, the number of reported coronavirus cases among students has surpassed the total from the entire 2020-21 school year. Every Friday, the Texas Education Agency releases COVID-19 case counts for students and staff, as reported by the state’s school districts. Here is the latest situation for the week ending Sunday, Oct. 17:State data on school cases is incomplete and likely an undercount. Last year, school districts were permitted to require masks. Instead, school districts either used federal relief dollars or dug deep into their budgets to provide remote programming for families.

Students in Texas public schools are facing another year upturned by COVID-19 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads, mask mandates are inconsistent and children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated against the virus.

Plaintiffs say the governor’s order denies children with disabilities, who are at a high risk of illness and death from the coronavirus, access to public education.

Former Superintendent Abe Saavedra will serve as South San ISD's monitor, following TEA's investigation into the district.

Dysfunctional school boards could impact district leadership in the future if the community and voters don’t take action to be involved and pay attention to who represents them on their local board.

Cardona spoke about how students, teachers, schools and districts have fared during the pandemic — and what happens now.

After it was announced that the federal government would start an investigation over the...

The U.S. Department of Education announced the inquiry after the TEA quietly updated its guidance to say school districts can’t require masks.

The federal government is investigating whether the Texas Education Agency is preventing schools from serving students with disabilities by prohibiting districts from having mask mandates,...

The U.S. Department of Education announced the inquiry days after the Texas Education Agency quietly updated its guidance to say school districts can’t require masks.

More than four months into this school year, districts have reported 224,814 cases in students. But state data on school cases is incomplete and likely an undercount.

Amid the several controversial new laws enacted this year by the Texas legislature were some good bills that deserved, and got, bipartisan support. One especially welcome law that took effect Sept. 1, and originated in the Rio Grande Valley, expands school athletic programs to include adaptive sports for special-needs students.

The Project SAFE grant would go to school districts and local education agencies that had funding withheld for enacting mask mandates.

A monitor from the Texas Education Agency is being appointed to the South San Antonio Independent School District to “address material deficiencies in the district” between the board of trustees and the superintendent.

The state is not funding virtual learning this school year, but that could change if Texas lawmakers pass a bill to fund remote instruction.

The Texas Education Agency released its final report into South San ISD on Tuesday, finding trustees acted outside their authority.

The bill would pay for virtual learning until September 2023, but won't fund it for students who have failed their STAAR exams.

The bill, which would provide funding through September 2023, will head back to the Senate before reaching Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.

There have been 20,256 reported cases among students across the state since the school year began.

A mother whose daughter is immunocompromised says protecting children's health should come before anyone's right to be unmasked in public.

PRESIDIO COUNTY –– Late last week, the Texas Education Agency decided to temporarily stop enforcing Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order that bans school districts from implementing a mask mandate. Prior to the TEA’s aboutface, Texas school districts, in this most recent school year, could not mandate their staff and students wear masks, merely recommend they do so.

As students have returned to in-classroom learning this fall in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, parents are facing a dilemma on whether or not they should quarantine their potentially exposed children and when.

Freer and San Diego ISDs join other South Texas school districts in creating mask mandates. Others include Alice, Kingsville and West Oso ISDs.

Nearly 1,200 positive COVID cases have been reported in various school districts, including those from Aransas County and Corpus Christi.

On Thursday, August 19, North East Independent School District voted to implement a temporary mask mandate during an emergency meeting that went into the late night hours. The district previously announced it would not mandate face coverings on its campuses. However on Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily struck down Abbott's ban, clearing the way for school districts to require masks on campus. During the meeting, NEISD trustees voted 5-1 after hearing from more than 100 speakers. The mandate goes into effect Monday, Aug. 23, and applies at all NEISD campuses, school buses, and facilities while indoors.

Texas school districts must now notify teachers, staff and students’ families of positive COVID-19 cases in classrooms or extracurricular or after-school programs, the Texas Education Agency announced in updated public health guidance Thursday.

The Texas Education Agency said in new guidance Thursday that it will temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on public school districts imposing mask mandates, citing ongoing litigation.Driving the news: The guidance came the same day that the Texas Supreme Court declined to uphold the mask ban over a technicality, sending the case down to an appeals court.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Why it matters: Public schools can now, for the time be

The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Supreme Court said public schools can temporarily require masks.

The state updated its public health guidance for public schools Thursday, requiring stricter Covid case notification requirements.

This is a reversal of the Texas Education Agency’s previous guidance, which didn’t explicitly require school districts to notify parents of a close contact with the virus.

The Texas Education Agency, facing a federal discrimination lawsuit, will not enforce Gov. Greg Abbott's masking order.

Biden said he will use the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights enforcement authority to deter states from blocking mask mandates in classrooms.

Disability Rights Texas filed the lawsuit on behalf of 14 child plaintiffs saying the ban violates federal anti-discrimination law under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The designation is for the 2021-2022 school year.

Remote conferencing, a TEA approved method of instruction for students, is set to be optional Monday, Aug. 16.

For the second straight year, schools must worry about keeping their staff and their children safe and ensure that they’re providing the best possible education during a pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Texans.

FAR WEST TEXAS – Economically disadvantaged students living in the service area of Big Bend Telephone have a new opportunity to get internet service into their homes for free under a state program that kicked off this month. The Texas Education Agency’s Connect Texas program has partnered with local provider BBT to bring free service to qualifying students through the summer of 2024.

A petition on Change.org is calling on the Brownsville Independent School District to offer virtual learning as an option this school year rather than require students to attend in-person classes as mandated by the Texas Education Agency.

Dallas ISD and Austin ISD announced Monday they will require masking, while Houston ISD will vote on a mandate this week. A nonprofit group has also sued to block Abbott’s order.

Texas school districts will not be required to conduct contact tracing this year if a student contracts COVID-19, according to new guidelines issued by the...

The new guidance will allow for remote learning for up to 20 days for students who are sick with COVID-19 or have been exposed to it.

The guidance also says schools don't have to inform parents of a positive case.

The TEA released new health guidelines for schools more than a week after legislators sent a letter to Gov. Abbott and Commissioner Morath, urging them to reconsider mask mandates in schools and funding for virtual learning due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Public health experts and medical professionals are sounding the alarm over the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19. The governor has stood firm on his ban against masking mandates in schools.

Abbott says it's up to parents to decide if children wear masks in schools.

Caller-Times received a report about the investigation the Texas Education Agency is undergoing.

The Texas Education Agency cited COVID-19’s disproportionate effect on communities of color as reason for lower engagement and attendance rates among students of color.

The Brownsville Independent School District is one of seven recipients statewide of a $465,000 grant from the Texas Education Agency.

Test results for the 2021 Spring State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness showed declines across the state, especially in mathematics, according to results released Monday by the Texas Educati[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently released results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) for spring 2021.[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News, Features San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

The drop was more significant in districts that had most of their instruction online,...

Districts across the state saw significant drops in student performance on the STAAR tests, according to preliminary results.

Three San Antonio school systems, including SAISD, will join the state teacher incentive pay program created in 2019.

The TEA is investigating the CCISD's method of awarding a construction contract in 2020. Here's what to know.

Texas educators say they’re concerned they won’t be able to have open conversations about what’s happening in the world if the Texas Legislature approves a bill that restricts how teachers can discuss current events in the classroom.

United South High School Panther graduates who are recipients of Texas Education...

A new incentive program will increase pay for teachers facing some of the greatest challenges in helping students catch up from the pandemic. It relies on more than standardized test scores to measure performance.

TEA announced that the Esperanza dyslexia program will be supported by the AmplioSpeech intensive digital intervention platform to better serve bilingual students across Texas. Esperanza is the only Orton-Gilligham program in the world for Spanish-speaking students with dyslexia, Cardenas Hagan said. When the global pandemic caused schools to close, TEA wanted to ensure that Texas’ students with reading difficulties such as dyslexia would have access to high quality interventions. Cardenas Hagan wanted to help the schools and educators who reached out to her for assistance meet the literacy needs of bilingual students. However, the AmplioSpeech Spanish dyslexia platform of Esperanza is currently only available in Texas, Cardenas Hagan said.

Resuming in-person learning at Texas schools last fall accelerated spread of COVID-19, study says

<figcaption> School buses are parked at the Austin Independent School District bus center in July of 2020. <cite>Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune</cite> </figcaption>

Olivia Weisinger and her growing band of parents have battled the board not just about safety but even more about accountability for the seven-member board.

AdIn New Braunfels ISD, which serves more low-income and Latino students, the school board opted to survey parents, resulting in a vote to keep the school mask mandate. One Comal ISD board member, Marty Bartlett, cited the arguments of well-known conspiracy theorists and vaccine skeptics who say masks are government overreach, not sound science. His margins were widest in the rural areas in Comal ISD and smaller in New Braunfels ISD. The two districts, both headquartered in New Braunfels, the largest city in the county, have subtle but important differences: New Braunfels ISD is majority students of color (54%) to Comal ISD’s 48%; 38% of New Braunfels ISD students qualify for free and reduced lunch, while 30% qualify in Comal ISD. His comment — and the feedback from Hennessee’s and York’s districts — suggests the tension between conservative and ultraconservative viewpoints exists not just between New Braunfels ISD and Comal ISD, but within Comal ISD as well.

Teachers from Rawlinson Middle School in San Antonio go door to door to find students who have stopped logging in for class during the COVID-19 pandemic. They knock until someone answers, and talk to sleepy kids and overwhelmed parents about how to stay engaged during remote learning. (The 74)Since the beginning of the school year, a squad of Rawlinson teachers have visited around 100 homes. Two teachers volunteer, they set a date, and the school hires substitute teachers. The Rawlinson visits combine visits with a tool the study labeled “strong”: reminders to parents about the importance of attendance, consequences of absenteeism, and how many days the student has missed.

Hello parents, teachers and students! Are you ready for spring break? I know I am, and I bet you all will be excited when that bell rings later today. You’ve all earned some well-deserved time off.

Now, the Texas Education Agency has issued new guidance in response to Executive Order GA-34 . AdTEA officials said the governor’s order does not take away the agency’s authority to implement operational requirements for public schools. Under the new guidance, schools should continue to require masks for anyone over the age of 10, but local school boards have the authority to modify or eliminate the policy. TEA officials also responded to the news that educators and school support staff are eligible for vaccines effective immediately. AdTeachers will not be required to get the vaccine at this point and school districts cannot mandate that employees get vaccinated, TEA officials said.

Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas TribuneMasks are still required in Texas public schools unless local school boards decide to make them optional, the Texas Education Agency announced Wednesday. The guidance follows an announcement from the Texas Department of State Health Services that school and child care staff are now eligible for vaccines, effective immediately. Some of the state’s largest urban and suburban school districts, including Dallas Independent School District and Northside ISD, said they would keep the mandate in place. About 56% of Texas public school students are attending classes in-person, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told state lawmakers this week. Some school districts now face challenging decisions, with their communities deeply divided over how school officials should be responding to the pandemic.

SAN ANTONIO – Private and public businesses and service centers are beginning to announce their own changes to COVID-19 safety protocol following Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement of the state’s “100% reopening.” Since then, area school districts have explained their safety protocols going forward. Bandera ISD - The district said it will not change its current COVID-19 safety protocols following Abbott’s announcement. South San Antonio ISD - South San ISD will continue to include required mask usage as part of COVID-19 safety protocols. This list will be updated as more schools in the area begin to examine their own COVID-19 safety protocols.

Texas school superintendents did not receive advance notice of Gov. Greg Abbott's announcement ending the state’s mask mandate Tuesday, leaving them scrambling to tell parents and educators what to expect. Declaring it time for Texas to reopen, Abbott said his mask mandate will end next week, but failed to explain how the decision will impact schools. Many superintendents told The Texas Tribune or sent notices to parents saying they plan to continue requiring masks in schools, despite the governor’s decision. “This ill-advised move is likely only to prompt educators to resign or retire.”AdIn the past, the TEA has declined to enforce Abbott’s mask mandate in schools.

SAN ANTONIO – Is online learning the future of education? In Texas, there’s already a handful of public online schools that are Texas Education Agency accredited campuses and provide a 100% virtual instructional program to students. One of these virtual schools is the Texas Online Preparatory School. From El Paso to all the way to Texarkana,” said Forrest Smith, head of school at Texas Online Preparatory School. Northside ISD parent Jenny Maldonado said her kids have been learning online during the pandemic.

“It’s not opting out of the STAAR test. Texas has said fifth and eighth grade students who don’t pass required STAAR exams this year may move up to the next grades. But high school students must pass five subject-specific courses by the time they graduate, a requirement that will not be waived this year. “This is about STAAR testing and forcing students to come in for STAAR testing. “I think the TEA has tried to create some flexibility with the STAAR test.

SAN ANTONIO – Dozens of Texas state representatives, led by San Antonio Democrat Diego Bernal, asked the Texas Education Agency to allow Texas parents to opt their children out of STAAR testing this year. The letter was signed by 68 state representatives in all, including all 10 from Bexar County. AdThis AM we sent a letter to TEA requesting a formal STAAR opt-out procedure. #txlege pic.twitter.com/42Viz03oQu — Diego Bernal (@DiegoBernalTX) February 8, 2021Speaking to KSAT, Bernal noted this year’s testing will matter less than usual. Bernal said parents could already opt-out in a fashion by keeping their children out of school.

Join The Texas Tribune at noon Central time Feb. 11 for a live interview with Texas education commissioner Mike Morath, moderated by Tribune CEO Evan Smith. In this role, he heads the Texas Education Agency, which oversees pre-kindergarten through high school education for more than 5 million Texas students. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. This conversation is presented by Lone Star College and Texas State Technical College and supported by Harmony Public Schools, Educate Texas, Philanthropy Advocates, TEXAS 2036 and Pastors for Texas Children. Though donors and corporate sponsors underwrite Texas Tribune events, they play no role in determining the content, panelists or line of questioning.

That investment would allow nearly all students to take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, online by the 2022-23 school year, according to the report. The TEA hired Texas A&M education researchers to evaluate how ready school districts are to transition to administering STAAR completely online. The researchers surveyed a sample of Texas school districts and other states' testing programs, including California, Florida and Pennsylvania. When surveyed in May, many Texas districts said they needed more devices to transition to fully online testing, according to the report. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has said students will take the STAAR, but schools and districts will not be rated on their scores.

Texas is still temporarily barred from taking over Houston ISD, its largest school district. Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas TribuneTexas is still temporarily barred from taking over Houston Independent School District, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday, upholding a lower court's order. In a 2-1 ruling, the Texas Third Court of Appeals upheld a temporary injunction that stops the Texas Education Agency from replacing the elected school board of its largest district with an appointed board of managers. The appeals court ruling sends the case back to the lower court that in January blocked the state's takeover effort. In March, Texas successfully appointed a board of managers to replace Shepherd ISD, a four-school East Texas school district.

TEXAS – STAAR testing will continue in the 2020-2021 school year despite the ongoing disruptions for student education due to the coronavirus pandemic, as announced Thursday by the Texas Education Agency. However, the A-F ratings assigned to schools every year based on these test results will be paused. Schools that incorporate these STAAR results into teacher evaluations are also being given some flexibility, as the TEA said it could remove those results from the evaluations this school year. As a result, we will not issue A-F ratings this school year.”The TEA said school systems must make STAAR available to all eligible students and administer the test on school campuses across the state or other alternative testing sites. To learn more about the STAAR test, visit the TEA’s website here.

“Between 1997-2019, withdrawals from public schools to homeschool in Texas increased 228% compared to a 41% increase in public school enrollment over the same period,” the THSC report found. The map of Texas school districts shows that between 1997 and 2018, both school districts had the third and fifth highest withdrawal rates. According to the data, 22,927 students between grades 7 and 12 withdrew from public school in 2018-2019. THSC officials said “all available indicators point towards record breaking growth” for homeschooling students after the start of the pandemic. View the full 2020 Texas Homeschool Report below:

SAN ANTONIO – A member of the Texas House of Representatives from San Antonio is urging the Texas Education Agency to cancel the administering of the STAAR exam for the 2020- 2021 school year, citing COVID-19 concerns. Rep. Diego Bernal, a Democrat who represents District 123, sent a letter to TEA requesting that the agency seek the waivers necessary from the United States Department of Education for the cancellation. The letter has been signed by 68 Democratic and Republican members of the Texas House. But Bernal said instead of having students take the exam, the TEA “should be focused on providing high-quality public education with an emphasis on ensuring the health and safety of students and educators. You can read the letter Bernal sent to TEA below:

The Texas Education Agency has 90 days to respond from the date of the letter, Oct. 19. The state's actions over the next month hold high importance for the more than half-a-million Texas students who receive special education services through public schools — and those who have been left out. The previous policy on dyslexia was ambiguous and may have directed some eligible students away special education, the federal investigation found in 2018. Despite the revision, many schools confused by the handbook are still consistently declaring students with dyslexia automatically ineligible for special education. The federal visit was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person education for millions of Texas public school students, leaving students with special needs even more vulnerable.

Here’s some of the cumulative data from San Antonio’s largest school districts for the school year so far:North East ISD has reported 11 total cases among students from early education to 12th grade, and a total of 14 staff cases . Boerne ISD has reported 17 total cases for students from early education to 12th grade, and a total of 5 staff cases. Comal ISD has reported 25 total cases for students from early education to 12th grade, and a total of 9 staff cases. The TEA will report COVID-19 cases in public school districts on a weekly basis. Below is a table with the updated COVID-19 case information for public school students and staff in the San Antonio and surrounding area districts.