Mount Carmel Academy, a charter high school that has partnered with Houston ISD since opening in 2008, will close at the end of the calendar year because of dwindling enrollment and related financial woes. The school receives its funding from HISD based on enrollment, according to Mount Carmel business manager Vic Bonner Jr. Because it has lost more than 100 students in the last two years, Bonner said Tuesday it can no longer afford to pay its staff, monthly rent and other expenses. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott felt vindicated when nine Texas Republican lawmakers who helped block a school voucher program he championed last year lost their seats in the March primary. The governor portrayed their removal from office as clear evidence that Texans wanted a way to use public funds to send their children to private schools.  “Republican primary voters have once again sent an unmistakable message that parents deserve the freedom to choose the best education pathway for their child,” Abbott said back then, before helping unseat six more lawmakers in the May runoff elections.  But Marilyn Snider got a different impression while talking to voters outside the election administration office in Coldspring during the primary season. There, she worked under a tent campaigning for Janis Holt, the Abbott-backed candidate she supported and who eventually defeated state Rep. Ernest Bailes in Texas House District 18, lodged in between Houston and Beaumont. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott felt vindicated when nine Texas Republican lawmakers who helped block a school voucher program he championed last year lost their seats in the March primary. The governor portrayed their removal from office as clear evidence that Texans wanted a way to use public funds to send their children to private schools.  “Republican primary voters have once again sent an unmistakable message that parents deserve the freedom to choose the best education pathway for their child,” Abbott said back then, before helping unseat six more lawmakers in the May runoff elections.  But Marilyn Snider got a different impression while talking to voters outside the election administration office in Coldspring during the primary season. There, she worked under a tent campaigning for Janis Holt, the Abbott-backed candidate she supported and who eventually defeated state Rep. Ernest Bailes in Texas House District 18, lodged in between Houston and Beaumont. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott felt vindicated when nine Texas Republican lawmakers who helped block a school voucher program he championed last year lost their seats in the March primary. The governor portrayed their removal from office as clear evidence that Texans wanted a way to use public funds to send their children to private schools.  “Republican primary voters have once again sent an unmistakable message that parents deserve the freedom to choose the best education pathway for their child,” Abbott said back then, before helping unseat six more lawmakers in the May runoff elections.  But Marilyn Snider got a different impression while talking to voters outside the election administration office in Coldspring during the primary season. There, she worked under a tent campaigning for Janis Holt, the Abbott-backed candidate she supported and who eventually defeated state Rep. Ernest Bailes in Texas House District 18, lodged in between Houston and Beaumont. view article

Opening is delayed! Elon Musk has officially launched “Ad Astra,” a Montessori-method private children’s school in Bastrop. Montessori schools employ a method of self-directed activity, supported through guided hands-on learning and collaboration with teachers. Ad Astra, which is Latin for “to the stars,” is already accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year and is open to children ages three through nine.“Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” the school’s landing page states.  Musk first started Ad Astra back in 2015 for SpaceX employees’ families.  A focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is stated clearly as the mission for the “progressive learning environment” in the school. view article

Proposals to create education savings accounts for Texas students to attend private schools failed to pass the Texas Legislature in 2023, but legislators from The Woodlands area said the topic will return in the 2025 session. “Several key proposals didn’t pass last session, and I am already working on new legislation for the 2025 session,” Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said in an Aug. 5 email. Creighton is chair of the Senate Committee on Education. He said in 2025 he would again advance his Texas Parental Bill of Rights and Texas Teacher Bill of Rights, which include provisions for education savings accounts for parents as well as raises and bonuses for teachers. view article