A Texas border school district ex-administrator pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government for his involvement in a widespread, long-term standardized test cheating scandal.
An increasing number of Texas school boards are pushing back against the State’s revamped public school accountability system by passing resolutions that call for lawmakers to repeal a new A-F ratings scale.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its annual Public Education Grant (PEG) List that identifies failing schools across the state. The new list reflected almost a 10 percent decrease from last year’s dismal findings but remains noticeably higher than two years ago.
The feds are touring Texas cities to give the public an opportunity to speak their minds over reports the State capped special education enrollment, allegedly shutting eligible students out of these services.
The question of how one Texas school district plans to pay for its $1.35 million state-of-the-art jumbotron system exploded when four newly-elected board members filed a lawsuit to stop a vote they believed would have saddled area taxpayers with those costs.
Another Texas lawmaker pre-filed a bill intended to halt rampant teacher-student sexual misconduct plaguing the state’s schools.
The Texas State Board of Education ended a months-long debate and voted unanimously to reject a textbook intended for use in a Mexican American studies elective.
A Houston area high school math teacher stands accused of having sex with one of his female students in his car at a park. During a police investigation, he admitted they engaged in sexual intercourse “probably twice.”
Monday marked the first day for Texas lawmakers to pre-file bills for the upcoming 2017 legislative session. Among the many proposals submitted was one which intends to combat the growing problem of teacher-student sexual misconduct.
Texans love high school football and pump exorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars into funding NFL-style stadiums, but now one school boasts a brand new $1.35 million state-of-the-art jumbotron system, only it remains unclear how the district plans to pay for it.
In a seven-page letter, Texas education officials told the U.S. Department of Education it never set a cap, limit, or policy on the number or percent of students that school districts can, or should, serve in special education.
Texas’ rural schools got a boost from Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who announced the creation of a new task force that will focus on the needs and interests of these often remote and much smaller districts.
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus jumped into the ongoing controversy over whether public school children were denied special education services, penning a letter to the state’s top education official and urging temporary action.
Two Texas school districts stand accused of violating the state’s 2015 law that decriminalized truancy. Advocacy groups came together and filed complaints, urging education officials to investigate and to shore up guidelines so that all schools follow the rules.
Texas education officials dismissed a complaint filed by the Turkish government against the state’s largest charter school network, Harmony Public Schools, reportedly linked to reclusive Islamist cleric Fethullah Gülen.
A Texas elementary school instructor accused of roughing up a five-year-old in a purported disciplinary incident captured on video has resigned.
The federal government gave Texas one month to show the State does not keep children with disabilities from receiving services and is in compliance with special education laws.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will ask state lawmakers to fund nearly $400,000 in their 2018-19 academic budget to combat teacher-student sexual misconduct cases.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) finally decided the fate of a small, rural school district struggling academically for five years.
One small, struggling Texas school that faces possible takeover or closure signed onto a lawsuit filed by a group of parents against the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR).
For the eighth consecutive year, Texas educator-student sexual misconduct cases soared, hitting an all time high of 222 investigations opened by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in the 2015-16 school year. However, one education expert says this reflects deeper societal issues and he spoke with Breitbart Texas about some of the ways to curb the rampant problem.
A new state law is the fulfillment of one north Texas mother’s 10-year mission to mandate that public schools place surveillance cameras in special needs classrooms to protect students after her son was physically abused by a teacher.
Federal agents arrested a Texas charter school physics teacher alleging he corresponded with an underage boy in Illinois over social media. The teacher then flew to Chicago to have sex with the teen, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced Friday.
A Texas state representative called for shelving the troubled State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) to “iron out” its “many kinks” and, instead, choose “from a variety of nationally normed standardized tests.” The only problem is those proposed tests are aligned to the Common Core State Standards, which Texas rejected.
Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Tuesday that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) fined its beleaguered standardized testing vendor Education Testing Services (ETS) $20.7 million.
Texas public and charter school students barely got settled into their new classrooms Monday when three new cases of teacher-student sexual misconduct emerged.
More Texas parents said “no” to vaccinating their children in the 2015-2016 school year based on reasons of conscience, according to the Annual Report of Immunization Status from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
Incidents of Texas educators accused of sexual misconduct with students and other related inappropriate behaviors continue to trickle in over these final weeks of summer vacation.
Despite claims by mainstream media outlets, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) did not launch an official investigation into the Houston-based Harmony Public Schools. The TEA confirmed to Breitbart Texas on Friday they did not open a formal probe and reports indicating they did are incorrect.
A former Texas elementary school teacher pleaded guilty on two counts of federal child pornography charges Thursday. In a case that began almost a year ago, authorities seized evidence of wrongdoing on a laptop in the suspect’s apartment.
A North Texas teacher, accused of impregnating his 15-year-old student, surrendered to authorities Friday. This marks another improper teacher-student relationship that resulted in pregnancy recently amid the state’s skyrocketing number of sexual misconduct cases filed this year.
An East Texas representative urged the state Attorney General’s office to open an investigation into the Houston-based Harmony Public Schools, purportedly linked to the controversial Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen. The charter chain stands accused of fraud, misappropriation of taxpayer dollars, shady business dealings, discrimination, conflicts-of-interest, and other questionable business practices.
The Turkish government accused Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen of organizing Friday’s failed military coup. While the reportedly reclusive 75-year-old imam — who lives in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania — denied any connection to Turkey’s military action and even suggested it may have been staged by the Turkish president, Gülen remains a controversial figure. He is allegedly connected to a vast network of questionable charter schools operating across the United States.
Robert Amsterdam, the attorney spearheading an international investigation on behalf of the Turkish government into the allegedly illegal “activities of the organization led by” Fethullah Gülen, called upon President Obama to extradite the Muslim cleric back to Turkey.
The Republic of Turkey filed a 12-page supplement to a previously submitted complaint against the Houston-based Harmony Public Schools, a charter chain allegedly tied to exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen. It accuses Harmony of fraud and financial wrongdoing with $18 million worth of Texas taxpayer funds.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Tuesday that 578 of the state’s 1,200-plus school districts and open enrollment public charters will receive funds from $116 million earmarked for Governor Greg Abbott’s “high-quality” Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) grant program.
The number of Texas teachers charged with sexual misconduct continues to escalate even while school is out for summer vacation. June brought more allegations of educators engaging in this disturbing behavior that violates the trust placed in them to protect the state’s school children.
Two more former Texas administrators formally pleaded guilty for their roles in a test cheating scheme. The fraudulent acts took place in the El Paso Independent School District from 2006 to 2013.
Absolutely everything under the sun that could go wrong with this year’s State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) did. Failures ranged from online testing glitches and vanishing answers, to missing test score results. It added to the growing frustration many feel about standardized testing in Texas public education.
A Texas school district administrator, who pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges, must pay back $500,000 she embezzled. This is part of a sentence where she will also serve 40 months in federal prison for falsifying standardized test scores.
