(The Center Square) – An education package was filed in the Texas House on Thursday by state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, which includes a school choice bill that is expected to pass. view article

State leaders on Thursday praised the Texas Senate for its swift passage of a school voucher bill that breezed through the upper chamber a day earlier after hours of debate over the legislation, which proposes to give up to $11,500 in public money to students who attend private schools. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — Texans are getting their first look at a bill lawmakers hope to pass this legislative session to create a school choice program. view article

Burrows claims the support of a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, while Cook has the endorsement of the GOP caucus.   view article

Texas House unveils school voucher, $8B school finance bills: 'One size does not fit all'   view article

The proposal, filed Thursday, comes well short of the increase school administrators and education advocates have been asking for.   view article

The bill would give teachers raises based on their experience and the size of the school district.   view article

The Texas Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a $22.7 billion tax relief package, which its author called a "Texas-sized" commitment to reducing school property taxes, though senators from both parties said the Legislature needs to do more to cut down the annual levy. view article

(The Center Square) – An education package was filed in the Texas House on Thursday by state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, which includes a school choice bill that is expected to pass. view article

Supporters of voucher-like education savings accounts are trying to press their advantage early and build a sense of inevitability.   view article

In this week’s episode, we discuss the details of the plan to let parents use state funds to pay for their children’s private schooling.  In this week's episode of the TribCast, hosts Matthew Watkins, James Barragán and Eleanor Klibanoff are joined by colleague Jaden Edison to discuss the issue that has dominated Texas' legislative politics for more than two years: whether to use state funds to help parents pay private school tuition. The gang discusses the details of Senate Bill 2, which passed the Senate earlier this month, the political forces that made it feasible and how it will affect public schools. view article

School vouchers have been done before in San Antonio. Well, at least a version of them. As the current debate among Texas lawmakers continues over whether to use taxpayer money to fund private education for students, as spelled out in SB2 passed by the state Senate, here is the story of Edgewood ISD’s voucher program. view article

The chair of the Texas Senate Education Committee has outlined his vision for boosting teacher salaries, with a focus on retaining experienced educators. view article

The proposal would expand a program that allows districts to award bonuses to educators based on their students’ academic growth.   view article

Houston Chronicle Live is a virtual event series that peel back the curtains on our newsroom. Readers are invited to join us for VIP interviews, fascinating Q&As and on-the-record discussions on topical issues.  view article

Both the House and Senate budget proposals currently allocate $1 billion for education savings accounts.   view article

House Speaker Dustin Burrows appointed lawmakers to committees on Thursday, announcing a leadership team made up mostly of veterans who had led legislative panels under his predecessors — and appointing only Republicans to chair committees, as prescribed by the chamber’s new rules. view article

Rather than backing the agency tasked with enforcing Texas lobbying laws, Ken Paxton is arguing that the TEC’s enforcement is unconstitutional and represents a violation of First Amendment rights.  view article

The proposed relief would be split between a homestead exemption increase and school district tax rate compression.  State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), who chairs the committee, oversaw its first hearing of the 89th Legislature on Tuesday. After the hearing, members voted 6-0 to advance the proposed increases to the state’s homestead exemption and school tax rate compression. view article

Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has hinted at a possible run, has more support than the four-term senator among Republicans, polling shows.   view article

The proposal follows Gov. Abbott’s November executive order to “harden state systems” against the Chinese government.-  view article

DALLAS — Gov. Greg Abbott called for criminal and civil investigations into Irving Independent School District after a hidden-camera video showed a school administrator discussing transgender students playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity despite the state’s ban.

Modeled by a national and statewide trend to lessen instances of bullying and keep students focused in schools, an Austin-area legislator is seeking to ban cellphones in Texas classrooms. view article

The New York Stock Exchange has announced its plans to launch NYSE Texas, a fully electronic stock exchange based in Dallas. view article

The Texas Senate has proposed injecting a staggering half a billion dollars into film production, as economists and fiscal hawks question the return on investment.   view article

In his push for private school vouchers, Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly emphasized he has no intention of harming public schools. But the Texas Republican this week acknowledged that his priority policy would in fact result in public schools losing money.  view article

The shelters began seeing fewer people dropped off by customs and border agents following former President Joe Biden’s executive order limiting some asylum claims.  view article

Republicans in Congress introduced a bill to increase penalties for illegal border crossers who evade arrest. view article

A pair of lawsuits filed by allies of West Texas megadonor Tim Dunn shut down laws that banned outside spending in the House leadership race, allowing for more political mudslinging and raising questions about ethics rules.  Voters in state Rep. Cody Harris’ East Texas district were flooded with text messages the week before the legislative session kicked off. The barrage of attacks accused the Palestine Republican of colluding with Democrats to elect a speaker of the Texas House.  “A small group of Republican Texas House members are trying to cut a deal with a majority Democrat coalition to elect a speaker who will kill our conservative policies” said one text, which included a disclosure that it was paid for by the Republican Party of Texas. “Unfortunately, your Representative Cody Harris decided to ignore the Trump mandate and is working with the Democrats to stop the GOP nominee.” view article

Lawmakers here and in Washington have long debated ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year.   view article

By the time lawmakers called it quits on the last legislative session the relationship between the state’s top three leaders – Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan – had hit rock bottom. view article

From teacher pay and preparation to special education and DEI, here are issues Texas lawmakers are prioritizing this legislative session.  view article

Both efforts were endorsed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and were listed among his top 25 priorities for the legislative session.   view article

The ALA has faced criticism for its opposition to restrictions on inappropriate materials in children’s libraries.   view article

The name change from the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America" began rolling out across the U.S. on Monday, just a month after President Donald Trump announced his intention to Americanize the name. view article