PUBLIC EDUCATION

Extremism experts and historians sound alarms as politicians, media personalities and celebrities amplify antisemitic conspiracies that have historically led to the killing of Jews.

Advocates say discontent with public schools’ pandemic rules and teachings on race and gender identity have helped raise support for school choice to an all-time high.

Some new home-schoolers disagree with how race and sex are taught at schools. Others cite safety concerns after the Uvalde shooting and poor academic outcomes.

Some parents and family of the students killed at Robb Elementary in May campaigned for Democrats. They were hoping for stricter gun control laws in Texas.

The Board of Regents adopted the Chicago Statement, a free speech policy created by the University of Chicago in 2014. More than 90 institutions have adopted the statement.

Slates of conservative candidates endorsed by the Republican Party of Texas failed to flip school boards in several suburban races across Texas, including in Round Rock and Wylie.

The board is responsible for dictating what Texas’ 5.5 million students are required to learn in the state’s public schools.

The land commissioner manages public land, enforces mineral rights leases, controls the Texas Permanent School Fund, distributes natural disaster relief funding and is responsible for the Alamo.

Texas voters cast their ballots Tuesday with a wide variety of issues on their minds, including the state’s grid and the Uvalde shooting.

Downtowns are deserted, hospitals are closing, teachers are leaving. Every part of life in rural Texas is harder — but it’s worth saving.

These proposed requirements could take effect this school year after the Texas Education Agency takes public comment into consideration.

An increase in fake active-shooter reports since the beginning of the school year has intensified parents’ anxieties and required an additional law enforcement response.

Audio obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica shows just how long police and dispatchers likely knew that children and teachers were in danger before taking action at Robb Elementary School.

School leaders are offering more money and paid training for potential bus drivers. Some routes still go unserved.

The high court heard oral arguments Monday in two cases brought by a group led by the same man who previously lost an affirmative action case against the University of Texas at Austin.

All 15 seats of the State Board of Education are up for grabs in November, and one race in District 7 highlights how critical race theory has become a key issue.

State math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress dipped significantly between 2019 and 2022, but reading scores for fourth and eighth graders held steady.

Fellowships will be available in spring, summer and fall for Texas graduate and undergraduate students at historically Black colleges and universities.

The gun safety law allocates $100 million for a Department of Justice grant program for school districts to invest in safety programs and technology. Twenty-eight Texas school districts were awarded grants through the program, totaling almost $8 million.

Texans will be choosing more than a governor and members of Congress in the midterm elections. Here’s a look at what the officials elected to several local offices oversee.

The school board also named Gary Patterson as the interim superintendent, but didn’t say when he would start or Harrell would depart.

The land commissioner manages the Texas General Land Office, which manages the Alamo, administers natural disaster relief funding and helps fund public education. The seat is open after incumbent George P. Bush lost his primary bid for attorney general.

Hal Harrell said his decision to leave the district after 31 years in education was “not made lightly and was made after much prayer and discernment.”

All of the department’s activities were suspended for an unspecified period of time, and two employees were placed on administrative leave after it was revealed this week that one of the first state troopers to respond to the deadly school shooting in May was later hired as a district police officer.

The Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate has said several times he will end the annual standardized tests. State and federal law make it impossible.

Among other issues, the court will consider whether a law that updated the education code last year has any bearing on TEA Commissioner Mike Morath’s attempt to replace HISD’s board members over low academic scores.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the school district knew the ex-trooper “had actions inconsistent with training and department requirements.”

Brett Cross launched the protest Sept. 27, joined by other Uvalde families who say the school district hasn’t held five of its officers accountable for their part in law enforcement’s delayed action during the May 24 shooting.

John P. Scott, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, is tasked with ensuring Texas schools implement statewide safety policies and safeguard against school shootings.

The rural Fort Stockton school district is paying big money for teachers and sweetening the deal with low-cost housing.

Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle talked schools, abortion and guns in advance of next year’s session in a range of panels at The Texas Tribune Festival.

Students had been pushing for the State Board of Education to adopt a new, more inclusive social studies curriculum this year. Instead, the board delayed their scheduled update until at least 2025.

Across the country, more books have been challenged and removed as religious and conservative groups target LGBTQ and race issues.

Last school year, Michelle Cardenas was tasked with teaching two pre-K classes at the same time. She’s dreading what is to come this year.

An online survey of 1,291 teachers by the Charles Butt Foundation shows more teacher dissatisfaction as Texas school districts scramble to attract talent.

The Uvalde school district delayed this year’s start so it could continue improving security. But three months after the state’s deadliest school shooting, only one of eight campuses had an unscalable fence fully installed. Other security measures remain unfinished.

Today, students in Uvalde return to classrooms for the first day of school, just 15 weeks after the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.

The Texas Education Agency has dismissed the notion that the accountability ratings are a poverty rating. As evidence, they point to districts like those in the Rio Grande Valley, which have achieved high marks while serving a high number of economically disadvantaged students.

The board was initially supposed to update the social studies curriculum by the end of the year.

After protesters solicited donations to distribute posters to schools across the state in Arabic, state Sen. Bryan Hughes sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency clarifying his legislation requiring schools to display signs with the national motto.

Opponents of the recommended changes, including Republican legislators, complained that they downplayed Texan and American exceptionalism and didn't present opposing views on the gay rights movement.

Uvalde trustees are unsure if officers who will provide school security this year were part of the delayed response to the shooting at Robb Elementary.

The governor has made a vocal enemy in the families of Robb Elementary shooting victims. They are demanding a special legislative session to reach a compromise on the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles.

Uvalde school officials have faced mounting pressure to fire Arredondo, who received much of the blame for the delay in confronting the shooter during the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary.

A lawyer for shooting victims is seeking compensation for victims and families, citing the Texas House committee’s investigative report that found “systemic failures” in response to the tragedy.

The Grapevine-Colleyville district, between Dallas and Fort Worth, added two conservative members to its seven-member school board in May.

“In God We Trust” was adopted as the nation’s motto in 1956.

A new policy scraps community recommendations from last fall that some books that had been questioned should remain on shelves.

The meeting will happen exactly three months after Arredondo was among the first law enforcement officers to arrive at Robb Elementary, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.

In interviews, Black Texans expressed frustration over uneven progress, restrictions on teaching about racism in public schools and limitations on their political representation and voting access.