PUBLIC EDUCATION

On this week’s episode, we speak to the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s James Quintero, who has been at the center of the debate over property taxes this week.

Lawmakers sacrificed school funding to block school vouchers, but the issue could be debated again in a special session. Districts will get new funds for school safety, though Uvalde families were ultimately left disappointed with inaction on gun restrictions.

The former Dallas ISD superintendent and state-appointed board of managers will replace Houston’s elected school board in response to years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus in the district.

Abbott noted many bills that were passed during the regular session, which ended around 6 p.m. Monday, but he added that “many critical items remain” and will require multiple special sessions.

Gov. Greg Abbott over the weekend signed into law a bill prohibiting race-based hair discrimination in Texas workplaces, schools and housing policies. It goes into effect in September.

The bill comes in response to the Uvalde school shooting last year that left 19 children and two adults dead.

A failure to compromise on school choice, border security and, for now, property taxes all but assures the governor will call lawmakers back for a special legislative session.

The end of House Bill 100 is a bittersweet victory for public education advocates who vehemently oppose school voucher programs but lament that schools won’t get additional funds to pay for teacher raises or balance their budgets.

Numerous vigils and memorials were planned in Uvalde to mark one year since the Robb Elementary School shooting. In what became the deadliest school shooting in Texas, a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others.

Opponents fear the bill is a “Trojan horse” for evangelizing kids and will worsen the state’s mental health crisis through disproven counseling approaches.

Senate Bill 1515 was one of several legislative attempts by conservative Christians to center public life around their religious views.

Wednesday marks exactly a year since a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. The community continues to grapple with the trauma and pain, and for those who lost someone that day, they’re determined to keep the memories of their loved ones alive.

The two chambers have been at odds over property tax relief and school choice, but on Tuesday night, those divisions spilled over into priorities the bodies had previously agreed upon.

If the bill becomes law, book vendors would have to assign ratings to books based on depictions or references to sex.

For the third time, the Senate is pushing a proposal critics say will ignore the existence of LGBTQ people in every grade level. Two other bills that contained similar language missed key legislative deadlines.

Texas senators have latched education savings accounts to a school funding bill in a last-ditch effort to avoid a special session. But some House members are furious at the revamped version and have vowed not to let it become law.

The film, “After Uvalde: Guns, Grief and Texas Politics,” will be broadcast nationally on PBS and also available for streaming.

Evadulia Orta’s son, Rojélio Torres, died in the school shooting in Uvalde last year. Her other children still collect Pokémon cards to add to his collection, and his cousins play with his football.

The Senate education committee has drastically changed House Bill 100 after Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he would call a special session if a voucher-like program didn’t pass.

Both chambers have said school safety is a priority this session after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school last year.

Lawmakers are trying hard to come up with an agreement on how to replace an embattled 20-year tax abatement program for big companies that expired in December.

Priority bills that died include a 10-year minimum sentencing for gun-related crimes, a ban on “critical race theory” at public universities and LGBTQ-related legislation. While the bills may be dead, lawmakers have a limited time to attach their ideas to legislation that are still alive.

In this week’s episode, we discuss the long odds facing the school choice bill and the possibility of Gov. Greg Abbott calling lawmakers back for a special session.

Rocky Malloy, a self-described former drug-smuggling pirate saved by divine intervention, has led a group that promotes chaplains as a tool to proselytize to schoolchildren.

The House public education committee chair said Wednesday he currently has no plans to bring the bill for a vote. Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to call a special session if the House doesn’t “expand the scope of school choice.”

Abbott says if a school voucher bill isn’t expanded to include more students, a special legislative session will be the result.

The most ambitious proposals are all but dead, leaving teachers wondering why they’re looking at small raises when the state has a historic budget surplus at its disposal.

The House plans to discuss its version of Senate Bill 8 on Wednesday, which was heavily modified to sway votes in the lower chamber.

There are more than 60 open federal civil rights investigations into Texas schools.

The list of potential hurdles includes property tax cuts, school choice, the power grid, the state budget, plus diversity and tenure in higher education.

Opponents of church-state separation have been emboldened by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the growing acceptance of Christian nationalism on the right.

The proposed raise would be the first time in nearly 20 years that some retirees would get a cost-of-living adjustment.

Texas public schools can allow corporal punishment, which includes hitting, spanking, paddling or deliberately inflicting physical pain to discipline students.

Lawmakers have already proposed directing billions of dollars to schools so they can lower property taxes and pay for safety upgrades. But House Bill 100 would be the first to increase the amount of money districts receive to raise teacher pay and cover the actual costs of educating students.

A bill passed by the Texas House on Wednesday would also help schools rehire retired teachers and offer other incentives in an effort to fight the state’s teacher shortage.

Other legislation this session has targeted school library books, which are optional reading materials, but House Bill 1804 might be the first to go after textbooks that teachers use for their lessons.

Lawmakers have said school safety is a priority this session, but it is still unclear whether they’ll listen to Uvalde families who want to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.

Local leaders told members of the Federal Reserve last week that families are facing financial stresses that make working hard. Educators say they need families more involved at school.

Voters in nearly 100 counties — mostly rural — can vote at any polling site in their county. The sponsor, without offering evidence, said the practice was not secure despite years of successful elections in Texas with the system.

The Senate also passed a bill that would set prayer and Bible reading times during the school day.

Proposition A on the May 6 ballot will test the city’s political climate and progressives’ ability to advance a controversial agenda.

Senate Bill 11, which aims to get hundreds of districts without adequate safety protocols to adopt one, would also beef up truancy laws.

Legal experts, librarians and some parents say House Bill 900’s language is so vague and broad that it could ensnare books that are not inappropriate.

The families of Uvalde shooting victims waited hours to testify at a House committee hearing in support of House Bill 2744, which would raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.

There are $5 billion and several political wedges standing between the House and Senate plans, which now move into conference committee with less than five weeks before session ends.

Proponents of the bill say it will keep inappropriate material away from kids. Some librarians are concerned about the logistical challenges it could bring.

The bill seeks to ban discrimination based on certain hairstyles — like braids, dreadlocks and twists — in schools, workplaces and housing.

The House voted 86-52 on Thursday to amend the budget to ban state funding for “school vouchers or other similar programs.” Abbott has spent the past two months touring the state to build support for the proposal, spending tremendous political capital on trying to break through the rural Republican opposition to it.

In this week’s episode, we discuss whether the House’s recent vote to ban school vouchers means a top Gov. Greg Abbott priority is doomed.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other conservatives say families need options to escape “woke” education in public schools. East Texas parents and school leaders say the national talking points are off base.

At one elementary school, protesters chanted as the school day was about to begin. Parents sought petition signatures at a high school. The demonstrations are planned throughout the day.

A Texas House vote earlier in the day suggests Senate Bill 8 might be short of the votes needed to pass in the lower chamber. Senators also passed a bill on Thursday that would give teachers a one-time bonus.

Passage of a school choice measure is anything but a sure bet, as there is little evidence that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House — who have for years been a reliable firewall — to drop their opposition.

The TEA recommended the move, citing the district’s failures serving special education students. The announcement comes two weeks after the agency appointed a board of managers to oversee Houston ISD.

The ACLU of Texas, the Houston NAACP and other groups say the takeover is a violation of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

The authors of bills in both legislative chambers say their bills’ aim is simple: keeping sexually explicit content off school bookshelves. But opponents say the legislation is vague and broad enough to wreak havoc.

Education savings accounts, which are similar to vouchers, are a priority of Gov. Greg Abbott this session. Texas senators also advanced a bill that would give raises and other benefits to teachers.

The Senate Finance Committee’s proposals won’t be voted on and sent to the full chamber until April.

Senate Bill 8 supporters say the legislation protects the rights of parents who don’t want their kids to learn about gender identity and sexual orientation. Critics say it could force schools to ignore the existence of LGBTQ people.

Texas is attempting to address the fentanyl crisis gripping schools by having staff learn how to administer lifesaving medication.

More than 380 supporters and opponents signed up Wednesday to testify on the proposal, which would allow parents to use state funds to send their children to private schools.

The Texas Education Agency announced on March 15 that it would replace the current superintendent and its democratically elected school board with a new board of managers as soon as June 1.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has embraced Senate Bill 8, which will get its first committee hearing Wednesday. But House Speaker Dade Phelan hasn’t made school choice legislation a priority.

Texas lawmakers could prohibit race-based hair discrimination at schools and workplaces. At least 20 states have already passed similar legislation, according to a group that champions the laws.

When do state takeovers of Texas public schools or districts happen? How long can they last? We provide answers to some of the questions surrounding the takeover of Houston ISD.

Parents and students of the Houston Independent School District decried the state’s decision to take control of the school system. Despite the news, many questions remain about how it would affect them.

The announcement comes almost four years after the agency first moved to take over the district.

Texas’ education agency first moved to take over the district in 2019 after years of low student performance at a single Houston ISD high school. Critics said the district has made improvements since then.

The bill, which has the blessing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, will create new rules on how gender and sexual orientation is taught. It will face a tougher test in the House.

Gun policy reform is the best way to address school safety, according to experts on a panel in Austin. They also cautioned against doubling down on surveillance technology.

More than nine months after the Uvalde school shooting, top GOP lawmakers maintain focus on school safety reforms and investments in mental health resources in hopes it will prevent future tragedies.

Budget proposals would boost state spending for the current budget cycle for projects ranging from mental health hospitals to state pay raises. This would leave $27 billion in surplus for next two years.

Texas lawmakers this year are debating whether to block transgender kids’ access to transition-related health care, classify businesses that host drag shows as sexually oriented establishments and limit public school lessons on sexuality and gender identity.

Parents, teachers and retired HISD employees were among the many rallying Friday against an imminent midsemester district takeover by the Texas Education Agency.

The bill, introduced months after the Uvalde school shooting, also allocates more funds to the state’s school safety allotment, which is money given to districts to improve campus security.

Seventy-seven Texas House Republicans signed on as co-authors to state Rep. Valoree Swanson’s bill extending restrictions on transgender athletes to college sports. Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the legislation, which is also a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Business groups warned lawmakers that Texas could lose business to other states without something to replace the so-called Chapter 313 tax break, which gave some companies big breaks on school taxes.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, has proposed an amendment to the state constitution to raise legislator pay and tie it to teachers’ pay, saying it would give lawmakers a living wage and allow a broader range of Texans to serve.

The yearlong review also recommends increasing the funds schools get per student, a measure already favored by lawmakers looking how to spend a historic state budget surplus.

Without the state’s safety net, districts with pending bond projects must now decide whether to pay more in interest or halt construction.

The incident comes as lawmakers debate how to make schools safer after the Uvalde massacre and favor measures like arming more educators.

Police often can’t tell if a cannabis vape pen is derived from marijuana or legal hemp, like the delta-8 products on display in gas stations across Texas. That doesn’t stop them from from making felony arrests in high schools.

Texas is the latest state to pitch a version of the program, which lets parents who opt out of their local school districts use tax dollars to pay for private schooling.

In an interview with the Tribune, the governor also backed criminalizing some health care treatments for transgender kids and shrugged off the idea that he’s in a conservative policy rivalry with Ron DeSantis.

According to a new analysis by a national health care company, Lubbock has the highest rate of attempted suicides by children between the ages of 6 and 17. A local leader suggests a dearth of resources isn’t helping.

“School districts, what they have to do if they lose a student, [is] be smart about how they allocate their resources and maybe that’s one less fourth grade teacher,” Steve Lecholop, a TEA deputy commissioner, said in a call with a parent that was secretly recorded.

A cascade of issues including inflation and growing distrust in government aren’t helping local governments hire for critical positions in public safety and utilities.

In 2021, Texas passed a law barring transgender student athletes from playing on K-12 school sports teams that align with their gender.

Senators in the finance committee asked questions Monday about the pros and cons of basing the amount of money that schools get per student on enrollment instead of attendance. Districts say the change could mean millions in additional funding.

Experts say local governments should prioritize extreme weather preparedness. Cost can be a deterring factor.

This comes two days after Gov. Greg Abbott voiced his most explicit support yet of a new school choice policy at a Parent Empowerment Night event in Corpus Christi.

Lawmakers are looking at ways to keep teachers in the profession, make schools safer, give parents money for private schooling and censor conversations about sex and gender.

For the first time, Abbott makes it clear which policy he supports. Bills that would allow parents to get state money to send their kids to schools outside of the state’s public education system have been floated previously, but top lawmakers believe the policies will pass this session.

Rural school leaders in Texas have been able to stave off the legislative priority of some of the state’s most prominent Republicans. But private school officials hope this year will be different.

School closures and hazardous road conditions are expected throughout a large portion of Texas, according to forecasts. State officials caution Texans about local power outages but expect the grid to stay up.

The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and burnout have pummeled teachers in the last few years. Lawmakers from both parties agree they should get a pay bump — but it won’t happen without some negotiation.

The decision to drop the course followed a Jan. 24 school board meeting that saw dozens of residents and parents speak out against the curriculum, which has been in place since 2014.

Patrick made the comments at a daylong conference in Austin hosted by The Texan, a political news site started by former GOP state Sen. Konni Burton.

As legislators begin to debate their public education priorities, the Charles Butt Foundation released a poll Tuesday showing Texans are mostly supportive of their public schools but are split on voucher-like programs.

Millie Thompson Williams was elected the tribe’s first female second chief, a lifetime appointment, last year. For the first time, her accession comes as women make up the majority of the tribe’s council.