On property taxes, school funding, and more, “Democrats are not even in the conversation,” Dallas representative John Bryant says.
The conservative, gun-toting superintendent of Fort Davis Independent School District is fed up: “I’m not patient enough to spend time with assholes in Austin, and I’m not rich enough to buy any votes.”
In many of Texas’s rapidly growing exurbs, such schools have been fast-tracked to keep pace with exploding student populations.
One constitutional amendment on the ballot poses a question that often vexes lawmakers—short-term need, or long-term benefit?
Texas's top lawmakers managed to put together an $11.5 billion package, but they did it in a way that all but guarantees a tax hike in 2021.
The governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the House announced a deal on property taxes and school finance. It sounds good, but offered awfully little in the way of specifics.
On Monday, the Senate passed a proposal to add four more writing tests and tie school funding directly to third-grade test results.
Too many Texas schools are failing, yet our elected officials would rather discuss who’s using which toilet.
Two court rulings and a debate over a debate add up to a couple of headaches for Abbott.
It is all but certain that Attorney General Greg Abbott will appeal Judge Dietz’s school finance ruling. It’s classic Abbott. He has to win, even if he realizes that he is going to lose.But the Legislature’s treatment of the schools during the 2011 session all but guarantees a loss for Abbott.
A visiting judge has ruled that John Dietz can continue to preside over the school finance case.
The ongoing lawsuit regarding the state’s public school system is expected to come to a head in May, when Travis County district judge John Dietz could issue his ruling. The question is whether Texas’s funding of public schools is inadequate, and, therefore, violates the Texas constitution’s imprimatur in Article VII
In February, Judge John Dietz ruled that the state's current school finance system was unconstitutional. However, the legislature's restoration of some of last session's deep cuts to schools during the 83rd legislative session could be a game changer for the lawsuit.
After the 2011 budget cuts, the Lege has some room for reform on public education.
Once again a judge rules that the state’s school finance system in unconstitutional.
The fallout from the state legislature's record $5.4 billion cut to school finance continues.
Perry conducted a Kardashian-level of media courtship at the Capitol, where he told reporters he won't rule out another run for governor or president.
Since 1984, the State of Texas has battled one school finance lawsuit after another. In nearly every case, the system has been ruled unequal, unfair, and unconstitutional—yet it remains largely unchanged. Will this time be any different?
The governor rejected calls to revisit school finance issues during his Tuesday media blitz, but his critics say he also overstated current funding levels.
I was talking to an attorney for the plaintiffs in the upcoming Supreme Court case, when he said that conservatives may intervene in the school finance lawsuit. Their contention, the attorney said, is that an efficient system could be achieved with school choice and vouchers. A school finance lobbyist told
This is an exact quote from the working paper of a senior adviser to Straus: Option 1 Year 1–50% reduction from target revenue & 50% reduction from regular program Year 2–50% reduction from target revenue & 50% reduction from regular program Provisions sunset 8/31/2-13 Interim Committee to study school finance
With public education facing an estimated $7 billion in cuts, the question on everyone’s mind is, Are Texas schools doomed? So we assembled a group of dinner guests (a superintendent, advocates on both sides, an education union rep, and the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency) to find out. Check,
The U.S. Constitution says nothing about public education, but all the state constitutions have clauses addressing it, and reading through them is a mildly inspiring way to spend half an hour. Arkansas: “Intelligence and virtue being the safeguards of liberty and the bulwark of a free and good government, the
The complete transcript of a roundtable discussion on public education hosted by TEXAS MONTHLY and published, in edited form, in the May 2011 issue.
Wealthy school districts think they’ve found a way to shield millions of dollars from the state’s Robin Hood law. Are they about to get malled?
Can the Aggies turn land in Guam into a record donation?
In education, Texas ranks below (gasp) Mississippi. Here’s how to turn the public schools around without throwing billions of dollars down the rathole.
In 1883 the University of Texas got stuck with two million acres of West Texas scrubland. Then it hit oil, and the money started rolling in.
