Join parents, teachers, community leaders in support of school choice. Families Empowered, KIPP, YES Prep, Ser Ninos, TX Charter Schools Association, American Federation for Children, parent groups, and community leaders will be there!

By Morgan Smith; January 22, 2013
State Sen. Kel Seliger, the Amarillo Republican who chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee, filed a bill Tuesday offering broad changes to student assessment and high school graduation requirements in Texas. Senate Bill 225 would significantly reduce the number of state standardized tests students must pass to graduate - from 15 to five in reading, writing, biology, Algebra I and U.S. history. It would also leave whether to count the state exams toward anything besides graduation requirements up to local school boards. A rule that requires state end-of-course exams to count toward 15 percent of students' final grade is currently suspended, but it would take effect again next year if lawmakers do not change it. Read the article.

By Ross Ramsey; January 18, 2013
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst slipped out his committee assignments for the 83rd Legislature late Friday afternoon, a bit of timing that will give senators - and the lieutenant governor - several days before they see each other again to debate the choices.  This year's announcements are earlier than usual, and a bit anticlimactic: Dewhurst rearranged the chairmanships late last year. "Texas is the number one state in America to do business, with the fastest growing population, and thank goodness we have such talented state Senators helping to maintain Texas' prosperity," Dewhurst said in a press release." Read the article.

By Morgan Smith; January 22, 2013
According to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics, 78.9 percent of the high schoolers in Texas' Class of 2010 graduated within four years, a rate slightly above the national average but contrasting with another federal study that ranked the state much higher. Texas' rate in the NCES study was an increase of about 3 percentage points from 2009. Late last year, data released in November by the U.S. Department of Education ranked Texas, along with five other states, fourth in the nation for its four-year high school graduation rates. In that report, the state posted a 86 percent graduation rate for the 2010-11 school year. Read the article.

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By Paul J. Weber; January 23, 2013
AUSTIN - Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams sidestepped the debate over $5.4 billion slashed from public schools two years ago during his first appearance Wednesday before state budget-writers, who have kept those classroom cuts in place despite Texas' deeper pockets this time around. Those cuts triggered a series of lawsuits pitting hundreds of Texas school districts against the state. A judge in Austin plans to rule next month, but his decision will almost certainly be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Read the article.

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By Mary Beth Faller; January 23, 2013
The Basis network of charter schools is planning to open a second campus in Scottsdale, a school in Texas and its first K-4 site, in Tucson. Last week, the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools approved the application for another campus in Scottsdale. Currently, Basis Scottsdale, near Via Linda and 136th streets, is at capacity with a waiting list. Cory Cyr, director of new development for the group of schools, said there is no exact location in Scottsdale yet and no opening date. Basis San Antonio, which will open next fall, will be the network's second out-of-state school. Basis Washington, D.C., opened last year. Read the article.

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By Lindsay Kastner; January 24, 2013
Changing policy on multiple fronts could do wonders for public education in Texas, a newly formed group of philanthropists and activists said Thursday in Austin. "We have a real chance here," said Victoria Rico, chairwoman and trustee at San Antonio's George W. Brackenridge Foundation, one of several organizations involved in the effort, called Texans Deserve Great Schools. Dan Patrick, the Senate education chairman, joined Rico at the group's press conference, where he and others pointed to test scores that lag behind other states and nations as evidence that education in Texas needs reform. "We are the economic leader today but we will not continue to be the economic leader if we do not have a skilled workforce," he said. Read the article.