Schools, districts, and education policy in Texas.
A Texas Tribune investigation finds the district has lost an estimated $190 million in state funding since June 2023, with New Education System campuses costing about $700,000 each in year one and enrollment dropping faster than at other schools.
New rule requires equal weight for AP, IB, OnRamps, and non-workforce dual credit but lower weight for workforce dual credit; public comment warns of impact on career pathways and class rank.
The Texas Education Agency sent a compliance form to all 119 Educator Preparation Programs, extending K-12 instructional restrictions to higher education teacher training.
The Texas Education Agency's proposed Chapter 71 rules create a structural difference in parental rights: open-enrollment charter schools may require a student to attend a full-time virtual or hybrid campus, but school districts must offer in-person instruction and cannot compel virtual enrollment.
Texas regraded brief typed answers on reading exams, finding 1.7% of reviewed responses deserved more credit. The error rate affected accountability ratings for 11 schools and districts.
The law adds bullying as grounds for removal, permits removal after a single incident, removes time limits on in-school suspension, and expands expulsion authority to off-campus conduct. Districts are updating codes of conduct.
The proposal would eliminate a staffing pathway for hard-to-fill roles in bilingual, special education, math and science. The Texas Legislature convenes in January 2027.
The district's 2025-26 shortfall grew more than five times the adopted $19 million deficit, driven by enrollment decline, falling property values, and a failed property sale. The board approved $205 million in cuts and plans to borrow $140 million in October.
Texas Education Agency adopted 19 TAC §103.1219, giving the commissioner authority to assign a conservator for school safety noncompliance. Three triggers, narrow powers, one-year clock.
The Texas State Board for Educator Certification voted to require the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to revise its certificate-area standards to comply with the state's anti-DEI law by Nov. 2, 2026, or risk losing its pathway in the Teacher Incentive Allotment, affecting up to 900 teachers.
Austin ISD is weighing closure, charter partnership, or a district-managed restart for Dobie Middle School after an appeals court cleared the way for TEA to release long-delayed accountability ratings.
The West Texas district's lawsuit is the first major legal challenge to school finance since 2016, targeting a 2019 law that shifted tax rate authority to the state.
The State Board of Education voted June 26 to adopt the most significant overhaul of K-8 social studies in 16 years, cutting some diversity content, adding a Texas history capstone, and requiring 12 biblical texts as part of the state's first mandated literature list.
Data from the state comptroller show about 75% of applicants to Texas' new $1 billion voucher program attended private school or were homeschooled last year, a pattern seen in other universal voucher states.
Houston ISD's state-overseen reform campuses saw end-of-course gains of 30 percentage points since 2023, far outpacing non-NES schools. But thousands fewer students sat for some exams under new pathway rules, and researchers say compositional changes may be inflating results.