Appointed a decade ago, the education commissioner insists that when he has direct oversight, academic gains follow. His critics await better student outcomes. view article

Mike Morath set a goal 10 years ago to make Texas No. 1 in education, declaring then that “the future of the state is delivering great results for brown and Black kids while ensuring great results for everybody.” A decade later, national test scores indicate he still has a steep road to travel before the pizza party. While Texas’ fourth grade math students jumped from 18th to 8th over his tenure, the state otherwise lingers in the bottom third of the country. However, no one can convince the “proven education reformer” that his body of work has not improved children’s lives. view article

Mike Morath set a goal 10 years ago to make Texas No. 1 in education, declaring then that “the future of the state is delivering great results for brown and Black kids while ensuring great results for everybody.” A decade later, national test scores indicate he still has a steep road to travel before the pizza party. While Texas’ fourth grade math students jumped from 18th to 8th over his tenure, the state otherwise lingers in the bottom third of the country. However, no one can convince the “proven education reformer” that his body of work has not improved children’s lives. view article

Presented by [Raise Your Hand Texas]  Texas is home to the second-largest public school system in the U.S., educating more than 5.5 million students across 9,113 schools within 1,202 districts. The Texas Tribune’s Public Schools Explorer gives you information on enrollment trends, demographics, teacher experience, pay and outcomes for all of those schools, at both the district and the campus level. view article

State Board of Education members on Friday approved a rewrite of what Texas high schoolers learn in social studies, disregarding pleas from Muslims who testified that schools should teach how people of Islamic faith positively contributed to world history. The Republican majority instead adopted a lesson, for example, requiring public school students to learn that “radical Islam” motivated the 9/11 attacks, as opposed to more narrowly focusing on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and extremists such as Osama bin Laden. A Muslim-American EMT was notably among those killed while attempting to save lives during the tragedy.  view article

Fort Worth revealed Thursday the names of the community advocates, academics and industry representatives who will comprise Fort Worth’s Data Center & Infrastructure Commission, the group tasked with providing the city with recommendations on how to best regulate the supercomputer hubs. The commission members are:  view article

Do you have a special place for you and your family? For my family, that place is the Big Bend region and particularly Big Bend National Park. Texas is blessed with two national parks. Guadalupe Mountains National Park contains Texas’ highest peak, Guadalupe Peak. And the fall colors of McKittrick Canyon are spectacular. But Big Bend National Park is my favorite spot on earth. Its remote desert beauty is a balm to my soul. I am most content when I stare up at a clear Milky Way on a cold November evening.  Big Bend National Park was officially established on June 12, 1944. Some of the park's roads and trails were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park is massive, containing 1,252 square miles. This makes it larger than Rhode Island’s land area. view article

Metroplex residents seeking their next career opportunity can take a break from scouring through websites and submitting job applications on Thursday when the North Texas Job Fair makes its return. Globe Life Field will host the 2026 North Texas Job Fair 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 6. Organizers expect a lineup of more than 650 employers — including the city of Arlington, Lockheed Martin and the Texas Rangers — offering 66,000 positions.  “​​We’re actually going to be taking up four concourses at Globe Life, which is the most we’ve ever had,” said Nicolette Pianelli, the outreach director for U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne. “We have pretty much employers across almost every industry.”  The event will offer entry, mid-level and senior positions in industries such as aviation, law enforcement, healthcare, retail, education and more. Some employers will offer on-the-spot interviews for open positions.  view article

Fort Worth resident Sue Weston has always considered herself “all for business.” As the booming data center industry comes to Fort Worth and surrounding areas, she understands the economic benefits that developers and city leaders say the projects will bring. But as an environmentalist, Weston worries about the possible side effects on Fort Worth’s natural resources and the quality of life of her family and neighbors. Weston owns the garden center and event venue Weston Gardens, which sits adjacent to the $10 billion data center project led by energy conglomerate Black Mountain in southeast Fort Worth. In recent months, Weston joined a growing chorus of Tarrant County residents and data center skeptics calling for strict regulations, a temporary pause or an outright ban on data center development. At local government meetings and community town halls, residents have urged elected officials to pump the brakes on data center projects in Fort Worth, research their impact on the environment and come up with thoughtful ways to regulate the developments.  view article

Over the last few months, people have cut down surveillance cameras owned by the company Flock Safety with an electric saw in upstate New York, thrown paint on them in Oakland, California, and rammed a truck into them in Idaho. One man in Florida sits in a lawn chair holding up a piece of cardboard on a pole to block the camera's view. City governments have joined in by deactivating the cameras or canceling contracts with Flock in Fort Collins, Colorado; Eugene, Oregon; Madison, Wisconsin; Knoxville, Tennessee; Syracuse, New York; and Walla Walla, Washington.   Flock sells its services as a crime-fighting tool, built on a network of cameras that record and analyze everything that passes by them. Law enforcement agencies that have contracts with Flock use its troves of observed license plate numbers and other vehicle data to track or reconstruct the movements of vehicles in criminal investigations. view article

Some families in San Antonio may need to add new backpacks to their shopping lists as they gear up for a new school year.   Harlandale Independent School District recently adopted a new policy, requiring that all students use clear or mesh backpacks for the 2026-27 school year, which starts Aug. 12. It’s the first year the district of roughly 11,500 students has done so.   While some parents feel like the new policy is inconvenient, they say it makes them feel safer when sending their kids to school.  view article

Abbott says HHSC acted on his directive by referring allegations involving two South Texas hospitals to Ken Paxton for possible enforcemen view article

Rumors that former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa would run for mayor started shortly after he stepped down from his second stint of leading the district in 2022.  Those rumors became reality when he officially announced his campaign this week— 16 months ahead of the November 2027 election.   "I'm baaaack," Hinojosa said in a sing-song voice during his first presser Tuesday morning.   November 2027 will be an open seat election because Mayor Eric Johnson is termed out. Hinojosa is the first person to announce his candi view article

Reports circulated Tuesday morning that Rogan was expected to host the vice president on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Adam Wren, a senior national politics correspondent for POLITICO, reported that a person familiar with the plans said Vance was expected to record the podcast. view article

Landen Williams-Callis is not ready to announce his college football commitment. He did not speak with a prominent recruiting analyst about the Texas Longhorns.  It seems to be a misunderstanding.  The college football pundit who made his prediction was doing so based on his own information. The college football prospect still felt compelled to set the record straig view article

In the wake of the right-wing activist’s assassination, the state education agency investigated 350 complaints against educators. Most have been dismissed, but some teachers have struggled to move on.    Illustration by Texas Monthly; Kirk: Joe Raedle/Getty  In her 28 years as a teacher working at schools in the Harris County area, Jennifer Courtemanche felt most at home at Lee High School. That changed for the 54-year-old English teacher on September 10. Hours after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assasination, Courtemanche made a series of posts on Facebook about the right-wing influencer’s death and was met with dozens of comments, texts, and voicemails from strangers attacking her positions. Someone—it’s unclear who—reported her to the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, while others attacked her directly. “I hope you’re next,” one read. “I hope you die by violence in front of your family,” said another. “Kill yourself,” said a third.  view article

Colleges are pivoting to offer students more job training and credentials as many skipped enrollment to go into the workforce, report finds. view article

San Antonio is getting a public high school for 18- to 50-year-olds who want a second chance at earning a diploma.  This March, the state granted Restore Education, a local nonprofit focused on dropout recovery and job training, a charter license for an adult high school.  It took three different application cycles and a 500-page application for a green light, but now the nonprofit is getting ready to open Restore TECH Academy at its Eastside campus at 4603 E. Houston St. view article

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Monday dismissed the Republican convention coming to Dallas as an effort to blunt what he called a growing “bipartisan backlash” against “extremism and corruption.”   view article

The settlement is a result of a multi-state antitrust case, which accused three egg companies of illegally conspiring to inflate prices. 
Food banks across Texas will receive over seven million free eggs after Attorney General Ken Paxton alongside other state attorneys general and the Department of Justice secured a settlement with three egg companies, which were accused of purposefully manipulating consumer prices.  Texas, along with 16 other states, filed suit against Cal-Maine Foods, Centrum/Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch, alleging they conspired to inflate egg prices between 2022 to 2025. This was discovered during an investigation conducted with the U.S. Department of Justice and other partners.  Details from the investigation revealed that the three companies had allegedly conspired to coordinate their bidding in a way that would influence daily egg price quotes published by a benchmark pricing service company Urner Barry. Urner Barry prices are used in egg supply contracts with retailers and the food service industry. view article

Universal Music partner joins White Rocks project to build hotel and private residences      view article

The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Thursday will weigh and vote on ERCOT’s proposal to streamline the power approval process for data centers. view article

From live elephants to Islam, TribCast recaps the biggest GOP event of the year with reporters Alejandro Serrano and Renzo Downey view article

Texas A&M announced a 77-acre lease for a new nuclear energy reactor at its RELLIS campus in Bryan. view article

   Talia Natterson is a sophomore at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, a private school in Los Angeles, California. She writes for her school publication, Crossfire.