Education
The Unlikely Demise of Texas’ Biggest Corporate Tax Break
After 20 years, the state’s most lucrative corporate welfare program comes to an end.
In 2001, state lawmakers and business leaders warned that the state’s high property tax rates were discouraging corporations from locating big projects in...Read More
Texas Educators Worry Bill Limiting the Teaching of Current Events and Historic Racism Would “Whitewash History”
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.
This article was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them—about public...Read More
‘I Felt Like They Were Demonizing My People’: Advocates and Families Point to Biases in Texas Curricula
In Allen ISD, a 9th grade student is pushing back against an anti-Palestinian lesson plan.
Dana, a Palestinian-American student at Lowery Freshman Center in Allen, Texas, was immediately taken aback by the multiple choice quiz question in her classroo...Read More
The Long, Winding Road that Led to the SBOE’s Decision for Texas Schools to Teach Abstinence-Plus Sex Education
For the first time in 23 years, the State Board of Education has updated the state’s health and sex education standards for middle schoolers. The board voted to expand what students learn about safe sex, but LGBTQ2+ issues and consent are still nowhere to be found.
Ann Thanh Phan says she’s tired of educating herself. She’s tired of having to dig up crucial information she didn’t know she needed. And she’s tire...Read More
Efforts to Save What’s Left of Mary Allen Seminary Reveal The Challenges of Preserving Black Placemaking in Texas
The Mary Allen Museum of African American History continues to race the clock to preserve what’s left of Texas’ first African American school for Black girls and women.
Opened in 1886, the Mary Allen Seminary in Crockett once taught Black Texans etiquette, discipline, home economics, and agriculture. Now, it’s barely standing...Read More
Texas Has the Widest Digital Divide in the Nation. What Does that Mean for the School Year?
As schools reopen, some families face potentially life-threatening options.
Before COVID-19, Jeanette Mathews was a single mother who relied on her son’s school schedule to help balance two jobs. In the mornings, the Mississippi trans...Read More
The New Ensemble
Texas’ best high school mariachi bands take the stage.
The New Ensemble Mariachi music is on the rise in Texas high schools. The state festival in Edinburg draws the best of the best. By Robyn Ross June 10, 2020 For...Read More
Raise a Glass to the Class of COVID-19
Maybe they will help build a post-pandemic world (or so I hope).
My senior year of high school was all about parties, prom, one last wild class camping trip, and midnight diner runs with friends before we all sped away to our...Read More
Tough Decisions Ahead for School Leaders in Rural Texas
With no edict from Governor Abbott, rural school officials must weigh the health of their students against the health of their communities.
Update: Governor Greg Abbott announced Thursday, March 19, that all Texas schools will be closed until April 3. If he’d arrived four hours sooner, he’d ha...Read More
‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD
In a last-ditch effort to stop a state takeover of Texas’ largest school district, the Houston teachers union is suing the state for disenfranchising voters of color.
The fight over the future of Houston’s public school system escalated this week when the local teachers union joined a federal voting rights lawsuit against t...Read More