Interim Superintendent Karen Molinar knows Fort Worth ISD needs to close schools. She isn’t sure when or how many. However, she knows the district cannot keep stretching resources into too many classrooms with too few students. “We’re trying to staff 140 buildings when we do not need that many buildings,” Molinar told the Fort Worth ISD Council of PTAs during its annual luncheon Feb. 11. “When we do consolidate, we’re going to be able to increase the resources for our students.” view article

Fort Worth ISD is considering closing up to 25 schools to address a $17 million budget deficit, a move that has caught many parents by surprise. The district, which serves about 75,000 students, could undergo significant changes that many families say caught them off guard. view article

Following a Texas Supreme Court ruling denying the City of Houston’s appeal of a decision ordering the city to spend $100 million more on water drainage infrastructure, City Controller Chris Hollins warned that without significant cuts or increased revenue, he might not be able to certify the fiscal year 2026 budget this coming June.  view article

The multi-billion dollar bond was later rejected by voters, but questions have been raised about wording in the budget item.   view article

Texas’ population surpassed 31 million in 2024, state demographer Lloyd Potter told attendees at the two-day Water for Texas conference Jan. 28 in Austin. He stressed the importance of investing in infrastructure as people and businesses move to the state. “Water is one of the most urgent and important things for Texas right now. ... If you have people, you need water,” Potter said. “The people individually need water, and then all the infrastructure that comes with them needs water.” view article

In a typical school week, Delaila Constante makes more than a dozen calls to parents of students who are frequently absent from school. Last October, she made around 50 to 60 calls each week. view article

District administrators highlighted areas of priority for GISD in a Jan. 7 board workshop, which will be shared with the broader district community and legislators, to communicate what is important to the school district serving their constituents: view article

Big changes are coming to Northwest Independent School District after voters rejected funding proposals last November, and parents are just starting to hear about it. The district, which has some of the fastest growth in the region and serves roughly 34,000 students in Tarrant, Denton and Wise counties, is facing a massive $16 million budget shortfall. Now, tough decisions are being made to keep things afloat. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott insisted Monday that he would accept nothing less than a robust, universal school choice voucher program, and he resisted calls to join the plan with blanket increases in public school funding. view article

Chronically absent students — those who missed at least 10% of their school days — are more likely to drop out, education advocates say.   view article

Jonathan Pastusek, Northwest ISD’s chief financial officer, recently likened his district’s current financial predicament to moving “big rocks.” Those big rocks include staffing adjustments, program efficiencies and budget reductions aimed at closing a $16 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year. In November, district residents rejected an increased tax rate that would have raised enough revenue to cover the deficit. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott will lay out his legislative priorities Sunday night during his biennial State of the State address giving lawmakers marching orders on what topics he wants them to fast-track this session. view article

The Board of Trustees at the La Joya Independent School District approved a plan that would affect three of its elementary campuses. Board members met Wednesday to approve a plan to restart Evangelina Garza Elementary and Juan N. Seguin Elementary schools under the Accelerated Campus Excellence (ACE) model. According to La Joya ISD, the ACE model is a proven turnaround approach that has successfully transformed over 50 low-performing schools across Texas into high-performing campuses. view article

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today applauded the Opioid Abatement Fund Council's (OAFC or Council) 2025 Grant Issuance Plan that could award up to $100 million in grants for approved proposals that respond to the statewide opioid crisis. view article

Round Rock ISD is expecting its 2024-2025 budget to turn from a deficit to a surplus. That change is due to the district selling 7.5 acres of property on Cypress Boulevard. During a school board meeting earlier this month, district leaders said that sale could give Round Rock ISD a surplus of more than $8 million. view article

Both chambers set aside $1 billion for a voucher-like education savings account program — double what was on the table two years ago — in a sign that supporters are emboldened after recent electoral gains.   view article

North East ISD leaders are considering the closure of three schools for the upcoming academic year following months of deliberation. There will be a community meeting so the public will have an opportunity to give feedback on the proposed attendance boundaries. The closings are due to next year's budget restraints in the Northeast ISD. So the district is proposing the closure of Wilshire and Clear Spring Elementary Schools along with Driscoll Middle School. A letter was sent out to parents and students notifying them. view article

At least 100 people gathered at Wilshire Elementary on Wednesday evening to learn more about a North East Independent School District proposal to permanently close Wilshire and two other schools. NEISD Superintendent Sean Maika told parents, children, and other attendees that his recommendation to close Driscoll Middle School, Clear Spring Elementary and Wilshire Elementary comes after years of looking at ways to respond to declining enrollment view article

Houston ISD’s state-appointed board unanimously agreed Thursday night to put 17 district properties up for sale, with the vote coming after a community member was reportedly dragged out of her seat and arrested for repeatedly shouting at board members. view article

On Wednesday night, the Eanes Independent School District Board of Trustees passed a resolution to close Valley View Elementary in the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. Eanes ISD said the decision was part of a broader effort to help address a projected $3.3 million budget deficit in 2024-2025, that deficit will grow to $6.3 million in 2025-2026. The district cited this was due to a decline in student enrollment and a lack of funding from the state for public education. view article

Deep in the heart of Texas, old-fashioned oil and gas still pays the bills in a major way, even as the state’s economy diversifies into other activities. As the U.S. churned out record levels of fossil fuels in 2024, the Lone Star State’s oil and gas industry poured over $27 billion worth of royalties into state and local coffers, according to data from the Texas Oil & Gas Association’s annual energy view article

On Wednesday night, the Eanes Independent School District Board of Trustees passed a resolution to close down Valley View Elementary in the upcoming 2025-2026 school year, according to a press release from the district. view article

The HISD superintendent spoke at a news conference after a report was published detailing that purchases had been made without board approval.  Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles's administration failed to get board approval for contracts worth about $870 million over the past 16 months, according to district leadership."Prior to winter break, we discovered that we weren't following all the policies related to the procurement process," Miles said in a video posted on HISD YouTube TV. "One important step in board approval, and that step we missed." view article

The Keller school board has apparently decided to talk about a controversial proposal to split the district behind closed doors instead of during a public meeting that had been scheduled for next week. The board’s president, Charles Randklev, announced on Thursday that a specially called open meeting will now be an executive session closed to the public. “The Keller ISD Board of Trustees will hold a special executive meeting on January 16th to discuss the possibility of reshaping our district,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Our North Star has and always will be our students and educators.” Keller is the fourth-largest district in Tarrant County and is considered one of the most desirable for its quality of schools. It has more than 34,000 students, including many living in the cities of Fort Worth, Colleyville, Haltom City, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Southlake, Watauga and Westlake. While some of its schools serve wealthy neighborhoods, others are in lower-income, working class communities. view article

On a Thursday morning last May, about a hundred people gathered in the atrium of the Ohio Capitol building to join in Christian worship. The “Prayer at the Statehouse” was organized by an advocacy group called the Center for Christian Virtue, whose growing influence was symbolized by its new headquarters, directly across from the capitol. It was also manifest in the officials who came to take part in the event: three state legislators and the ambitious lieutenant governor, Jon Husted. view article

Just before the Crystal City Independent School District let out for winter break, the district laid off 32 employees. The district told KSAT that none of the layoffs included any contractual employees but instead, “staff members in various non-contractual positions.” Victoria Noel, a woman who grew up in Crystal City and was set to move back to the district, said she’s communicated with teachers impacted by the cuts. view article

Two years after education advocates unsuccessfully pushed Texas lawmakers to increase the state's per-student funding by $1,000 to keep up with inflationary cost increases, new inflation-adjusted figures from the federal government suggest that that base level finance should climb by about $1,400. view article

This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso. The Socorro Independent School District used more than half its savings between 2022 and 2024, and may need to spend more to cover its expenses. view article

Round Rock ISD board members on June 17 adopted a $467.42 million general operating budget for fiscal year 2021-22. The general operating fund budget includes $444.53 million in revenues and $467.42 million in expenses, creating a deficit in this fund of $17.2 million, RRISD Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Adix said. view article

State lawmakers were prepared for a budget crunch, since the COVID-19 pandemic slashed revenues from sales taxes, energy taxes, and other sources. The question they now face is how to close the shortfall without choking off long-term growth.  The answer is far from clear, but it’s certain to involve cuts to popular programs.  In fact, such cuts are what's expected this session. The state comptroller's office says lawmakers need to close a shortfall of nearly $1 billion in revenues. And Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, noted that Gov. Greg Abbott has asked state agencies to reduce budgets by 5%. view article

Bryan ISD's Board of Trustees have approved a one-time $500 supplement for their salaried employees. Teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, administrators and professional staff receive their pay bonus on their Dec 15 paycheck. view article

Texas pre-K programs are just scraping by after losing millions of dollars last year — and without sustainable funding, they could see greater problems down the line, school officials say. During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers decided not to fund a $118 million high-quality pre-K grant program that was created in 2015 and championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The money had gone to 573 districts and charter schools that pledged to meet measures such as setting a lower student-teacher ratio, avoiding Common Core curricula and reporting student progress to the state. view article

Burnet school district officials were probably expecting to get more than two years from the synthetic turf installed at Bulldog Field in 2015, but that didn’t happen and it’s now set the district back $150,000. Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Keith McBurnett, however, said the district is looking to get $105,000 back from one manufacturer. Last year, officials noticed some turf fibers sticking up higher than others, so they took a closer look, McBurnett said. “To most people, it probably wasn’t noticeable,” he said. “We had all the experts look at the field, and they looked at the backside. It needed to be replaced.” view article

On Saturday, voters who live within the Houston ISD will go to the polls to determine how - or if - the district will pay the state millions in "recapture" fees. Whatever voters decide on Proposition 1, the Houston ISD will take a financial hit, officials say. Recapture, and school finance, can be difficult to grasp. To help, here are the answers to some questions about the ballot measure. view article

The Round Rock school district awarded $1.9 million in grants to 34 campuses to help foster innovation in schools through programs, models or initiatives that enrich learning. The grants range from $7,500 to $100,000 and support the district’s strategic goal of implementing, enhancing and reinforcing innovative teachings and learning models, according to a district news release. view article