Tag Archives: schools

Crocodile tears over the school finance lawsuit

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is little more than blaming the victim. A state judge is expected to rule next week on whether the school finance system is broken, but lawmakers aren’t anywhere near ready to launch repairs. Instead, Republican leaders plan to wait … Continue reading →

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How would you pay for extra school security?

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Would you be willing to tax yourself for it? Texas school districts could create special taxing districts to fund more security under a proposal unveiled Tuesday by three Houston-area lawmakers. The Texas School District Security Act would allow school boards … Continue reading →

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Zack Kopplin

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the name Zack Kopplin. Rice University sophomore Zack Kopplin says he has been called the Antichrist, a godless liberal and, bizarrely, the cause of Hurricane Katrina. Kopplin, 19, has gained notoriety for championing the fight against his home state … Continue reading →

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From the “Anyone can call themselves an expert” department

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Now see, this is what happens when you go soliciting expert witnesses on Craigslist Joseph Bast, president and CEO of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, is a witness for Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education, or TREE, a group … Continue reading →

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More STAAR changes proposed

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone’s least favorite standardized test is a fat target these days. 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 … Continue reading →

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More from the Larry Marshall files

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This guy is a piece of work. HISD trustee Larry Marshall, fresh off a two-day school board retreat, flew from Houston to Tampa, Fla., on a clear winter day to watch the 2009 Super Bowl in Raymond James Stadium. Cheap … Continue reading →

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Here come the tax cut proposals

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

When the sunny revenue forecast came in, we immediately got one crappy tax cut idea, to eliminate the margins tax at a cost of $4.5 billion. The Texas Association of Business didn’t care for the idea, at least at first, … Continue reading →

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Meet the new budget

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Same as the old budget. Republican leaders in both chambers of the Legislature on Monday offered spare first drafts of the state’s next two-year budget that continue $5.4 billion in cuts to public education made last session and freeze funding … Continue reading →

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School finance dispatches

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Some bad news for the state in the school finance lawsuit. State District Judge John Dietz directed state attorneys Wednesday to redo a key study that underestimated the funding advantages of higher-wealth school districts — a blow to the state’s … Continue reading →

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School Land Board votes to transfer $300 million to Available School Fund

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: The School Land Board voted Tuesday to release $300 million into the Available School Fund for public schools. The money will be released in two $150 million installments, one in February and the other on June. The … Continue reading →

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The revenue estimate is in

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

And under normal circumstances it would be very good news. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, laying out the parameters for state spending on the eve of the legislative session, said Monday that the rebounding Texas economy gives lawmakers $8.8 billion unallocated … Continue reading →

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A look ahead to the 2013 Lege

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib previews the biennial hijinks of the 2013 Texas Legislature. The last time Texas lawmakers convened in Austin, they were absorbed with numbers and boundaries: how to make ends meet with a deflated state budget and draw new district … Continue reading →

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The dog that hasn’t barked yet

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The most dispensible member of the Harris County legislative caucus hasn’t done what she normally does yet. Camping out in the Texas Capitol to ensure a prime designation for your legislation on illegal immigration? That’s so 2011. State Rep. Debbie … Continue reading →

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What they’re saying about education

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a couple of stories focusing on area legislators and their priorities for 2013. There will be many new faces in the Lege and the Senate in this session, so the more we know about what these folks … Continue reading →

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So how’s public education doing under the Republicans?

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Well, for starters, there’s larger class sizes. Northside’s predicament mirrors that of several other local districts with expanding enrollments. It’s part of the argument hundreds of Texas districts are making in an ongoing school finance lawsuit against the state, blaming … Continue reading →

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Everybody hates the STAAR test now

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

In reading this story about the flood of legislation being filed to scale back or defer the STAAR tests, I am struck, but not surprised, by the genesis of this activity. The clamor for change may have more to do … Continue reading →

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CompSci in the curriculum

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

HISD Trustee Paula Harris coauthors an op-ed in the Chron advocating computer science to be part of the standard school curriculum. While STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is a hot topic in education circles these days, only math … Continue reading →

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Not just vouchers, corporate-sponsored vouchers

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You can’t make this stuff up. Speaking in a Catholic school classroom in Austin, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick gave the first details of what they promised would be a wide-ranging set of proposals for public … Continue reading →

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Responding the only way they know how

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

That’s our Legislature. In response to last week’s Connecticut school shooting, state Rep.-elect Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, says he will file legislation to allow public school teachers to carry concealed weapons while on campus. The bill, which Villalba is calling the … Continue reading →

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Early extension for Grier

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This was a surprise. The Houston school board gave Superintendent Terry Grier a big but not unanimous vote of confidence Thursday, extending his contract through 2016 and awarding him $115,000 in bonuses for the last year. The board voted 6-2 … Continue reading →

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On school shootings

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. In the national collective grief rising from Friday’s mass shooting in Connecticut, one apparent trust seems to have completely shattered: that an elementary school was sacred and safe ground. Left in the … Continue reading →

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Two minus five is still less than zero

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It’s nice that Speaker Joe Straus wants to restore public education funding, but let’s be clear about what that means. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday he’s committed to pumping billions of dollars back into the state’s public schools, … Continue reading →

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TAB yields on testing

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Retreat! Some of the strongest advocates for high-stakes testing, Texas business leaders now want to cut the number of exams students must pass to finish high school, the latest attempt to ease tougher graduation requirements that went into effect last … Continue reading →

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Are vouchers unconstitutional?

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Attorney Kelly Frels makes the case that private school vouchers will not pass constitutional muster in Texas. State Sen. Dan Patrick has proposed that the state of Texas provide vouchers to help parents pay for private school tuition. Vouchers are … Continue reading →

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Plaintiffs rest their case in school finance lawsuit

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Phase one is over. Hundreds of districts suing the state over its school finance system wrapped up their case Wednesday with testimony that largely blamed the Legislature for creating the current funding crisis that stripped away an unprecedented $5.4 billion … Continue reading →

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Some sanity on STAAR

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is a welcome development. A requirement that the state exams count toward 15 percent of a student’s course grade sparked a backlash last spring over the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, among parents whose ninth-graders … Continue reading →

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TAB does not intend to release its hostage

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

And why should they, if it’s a viable strategy? Representatives from the Texas Coalition for a Competitive Workforce, which includes major business groups and local chambers of commerce, said at a news conference that the assessment and accountability system known … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Various miscellaneous

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Just a brief roundup of various endorsements that have come to my attention lately. No particular theme to them, just what I’ve seen in the past few days. – The Environmental Defense Fund has endorsed the HISD bond referendum. The … Continue reading →

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Eight billion dollars

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

That’s how much is needed per year to make public education whole. Lynn Moak told state District Judge John Dietz that it will take more than $8 billion a year in additional money to get students on target to graduate … Continue reading →

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Patrick teases his school choice proposals

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

He doesn’t want to call it “vouchers”, but if it walks like a duck… “If there’s one message that I want to send, it’s that I want to champion public education,” said Patrick, the new chairman of the Senate Public … Continue reading →

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The opening argument against vouchers

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve been hearing about vouchers since Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst named Sen. Dan Patrick to be Chair of the Senate Education Committee, but we haven’t heard – or at least, I haven’t seen – a lot of information about what … Continue reading →

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Cuts are not increases, no matter how you spin it

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is the Chron overview of HD134, which is once again the highest profile legislative race in the county, in part because it’s a referendum on the 2010 election and the cuts to public education funding that resulted from that … Continue reading →

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Children continue to be our future

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The mother of all school finance lawsuits, which commenced on Monday, will take many weeks to conclude. I don’t expect to follow it every day since there’s just so much else going on, but I wanted to point out a … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: For Ann Johnson

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I noted on Monday that the Chron listed Ann Johnson as one of its endorsed candidates. Yesterday they wrote the endorsement editorial to go along with that. The tea party turnout of 2010 gave Republican candidate Sarah Davis the narrow … Continue reading →

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