The Texas State Board of Education is expected to vote Friday in Austin on high school social studies standards that require students to study early Islam through military campaigns and slavery, and to learn that Christian tenets shaped Western civilization, America and Texas.   KERA reported the 15-member board has been meeting all week on the last high school Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills updates after finishing K-8 changes this summer. The board has 10 Republicans and five Democrats and is expected to pass the package. CBS Austin said the high school standards, if approved, would take effect in the 2033-34 school year.   According to KERA, the proposed lessons would have students “explain early Islam in terms of the Prophet Mohammed’s brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves.” They would also tie the Sept. 11 attacks to “radical Islam” rather than naming specific groups. The same draft requires students to understand “that important tenets of Christianity during the time of the Roman empire influenced Western Civilization, America, and Texas.” view article

Frustration boiled over during Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata’s listening session at Arlington Heights High School. More than 180 people packed the cafeteria — nearly double the attendance of three previous meetings combined. Parents shouted at the superintendent, demanding he answer their questions and look at them when they spoke. Licata paced the room, at times looking down at his shoes.  One parent was ejected from the meeting over behavior that chief of staff Louis Kushner and the superintendent found unacceptable. view article

Nacogdoches ISD could face a potential state takeover if student academic performance does not improve at two of its elementary campuses. Texas Education Agency accountability report records show Brooks-Quinn-Jones Elementary and Mike Moses Elementary have received an F rating for four consecutive years (from 2023 to 2026). view article

Texas’ chief financial officer requested that lawmakers double the amount of money available for the state's private school voucher program, resulting in a total of more than $2 billion.In the appropriations request for 2028–29 biennium, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines wants the Legislature to raise the program’s base funding by $1 billion so more families can use taxpayer money to cover private school or home schooling costs.  Huffines also asked for an additional $226 million to accommodate funding increases for families currently participating in the program, which launched this school year.  “The Comptroller’s Office expects that the interest list will only grow larger as the state continues to promote the program and participating families communicate positive experiences to others in their communities,” according to the request. “The state has a moral imperative to serve these children.” view article

Conroe ISD kept its overall B rating for 2026, though the campus results were mixed: some individual campuses improved, but 19 schools dropped at least one letter in their ratings, according to recently released state accountability ratings. Each year, the Texas Education Agency grades all districts and charter schools from A-F. Ratings are based on standardized test performance, college and career readiness, and closing performance gaps between specific student groups. view article

More than 200 courses, including those on LGBTQ literature, cultural studies and climate change, will no longer count toward core degree requirements at 11 Texas A&M universities.  Students at 11 Texas A&M University System schools will see fewer classes related to LGBTQ literature, climate change and women writers meet graduation requirements under a proposal to remove more than 200 classes from general-education course lists.  System regents voted Thursday to scale back the classes that qualify after a review prompted by a new state law that requires public university boards to  examine what classes undergraduates must take regardless of their majors.  view article

San Antonio ISD students are two weeks into a new school year. At some elementary schools, they are navigating a new curriculum that critics call “Bible-infused.” The state-endorsed teaching materials are known as Bluebonnet Learning. San Antonio ISD is following South San ISD which implemented Bluebonnet Learning last year. view article

Diamond Hill Jarvis High School is under new leadership after its current principal was placed on administrative leave, according to a statement from Fort Worth ISD. In a letter sent to families, district officials say Principal Paola Rodriguez is on a leave of absence. During this time, Mr. Rian Townsend will be serving as acting principal. view article

More districts across Texas are at risk of intervention by the state’s education commissioner. Here’s what that means for public schools. view article

Lufkin ISD officials expect to spend the next several months determining how students, staff and programs will be distributed as the district prepares to transition its elementary campuses to a K-5 model for the 2027-28 school year.  Deputy Superintendent Jill Gaston presented trustees with a timeline for the realignment during a board work session Monday. The district is gathering community feedback and enrollment data through the end of August before beginning a more detailed analysis in September  That analysis will take aspects such as campus capacity, attendance boundaries, transportation, nutrition services, staffing and the placement of specialized programs into consideration. view article

The governor says foreign influence has “no place” in Texas classrooms.  Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on Texas lawmakers to ban foreign funding in public schools and prohibit districts from employing workers through the federal H-1B visa program.   Abbott announced the proposals Tuesday as part of a broader push aimed at eliminating foreign influence in Texas classrooms. “The minds of our students are driven by influences that they are exposed to in our public schools,” said Abbott. “Those minds should be shaped by policies that are approved by state lawmakers.”  Abbott pointed to Austin Independent School District’s acceptance of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Qatar to support Arabic language and culture instruction, as well as school districts that have participated in Confucius Classroom programs affiliated with Chinese government-backed entities.  “We cannot condone the quiet indoctrination of our children in the classroom,” said Abbott. view article

A false description of my research became the basis for an argument about the value of my work. School districts face a larger version of the same problem.   As Texas students return to school this month, some will get a lesson that is new this year: how to check whether a source is telling the truth.State policymakers deserve credit for prioritizing this critical skill set. By state law, every Texas school campus is now required to send a teacher and an administrator to civics training in media literacy — verifying information and sources, identifying and responding to logical fallacies — so they can teach those skills to students. Elementary educators completed that training for the first time this summer.  Media literacy should not be something we ask only of children. I learned that all too well last week when I read an article by Texas Scorecard, a news outlet connected to a conservative advocacy group. The article questioned whether the University of Texas System Board of Regents should approve tenure for several faculty members. view article

After Charles Baxter Junior High School received a fourth consecutive F grade in the state’s annual A-F Accountability ratings, Everman ISD will turn the campus into a public charter school that will be operated by an outside organization, district officials said this week. Everman ISD is partnering with Third Future Schools, a nonprofit educational management organization, to turn Charles Baxter into a public charter school. The campus will remain as part of Everman ISD, but Third Future Schools will run the campus and its daily operations. view article

ABILENE, Texas — Brownwood ISD started the year with improved accountability ratings. The district moved from a C to a B.   The Texas Education Agency gave the district an overall score of 83, an improvement over the previous score of 78.  "I think the biggest difference is just some consistency. I think last year we were able to have a new math curriculum in our lower grades," Dr. Young said. view article

Just days after the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its A-F accountability ratings, schools are focusing on helping students learn and master grade-level skills. Hidden Forest Elementary in North East ISD received an A rating, reflecting strong performance in educating students. view article

Texas’ school performance ratings remained relatively flat this year, while the Austin school district prepared for expected state sanctions over chronic F ratings. Campuses and districts received their state report cards Friday, providing families a glimpse of how well schools educate students. About one in four schools saw their ratings improve, while a nearly similar number of campuses saw a drop. Of the more than 9,000 campuses in the 2025-26 school year, 24% scored an A, 34% scored a B, 23% scored a C, 10% scored a D and 4% scored an F. Some schools did not receive grades. Schools with high poverty performed worse than more affluent campuses, while campuses with predominantly Black or Hispanic students scored lower than those where white or Asian students make up the majority. view article

On Wednesday, elementary schools in a small southwestern Colorado district stopped using a controversial reading curriculum developed by the state of Texas.  It was the third day of school.  The sudden shift came a day after the Montezuma-Cortez school board voted 4-3 to reject the new curriculum, called Bluebonnet, and four days after the district’s superintendent pledged that Biblical material would be removed from lessons. view article

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its 2026 accountability ratings today. McKinney ISD leaders have completed an initial review of the results and are partnering with campuses to celebrate accomplishments, identify opportunities for growth, and determine next steps. view article

Conroe ISD outperformed the state in most subjects for the spring 2026 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, but scores within the district decreased in many categories compared to 2025, according to results released by the Texas Education Agency. view article

As Burnet and Webb middle schools received five consecutive failing grades from the state, increasing the possibility of a state takeover of the Austin Independent School District, parents and community members are contending with what the impact could be for all AISD campuses. view article

Austin school district leaders are determined to turn around the two middle schools that triggered mandatory state intervention. Whether they get the chance may no longer be up to them. Burnet and Webb middle schools received their fifth consecutive F ratings from the Texas Education Agency, triggering a state law that requires the agency to intervene. What that intervention ultimately looks like remains unclear. view article

The Texas Education Agency today released district and campus accountability scores for the 2025–26 school year, and Round Rock ISD has earned an adjusted score of 89. Nearly 78% of all campuses received an A or a B, up from 72% in 2025. The district’s true average score was a 91, an A. However, per TEA policy, if any campus in a district earns a D or if any campus receives a D in any domain, the highest possible score the district can earn is an 89. view article

A Humble ISD elementary school is celebrating a dramatic turnaround after improving its state accountability rating from an F to a B in just one school year. Jack M. Fields Elementary posted a 24-point increase over its 2025 score—the largest year-to-year gain among Humble ISD campuses—according to the latest accountability ratings released by the Texas Education Agency. view article

Eight Waco schools received failing grades on the state’s annual state report card, new data released Friday shows, but Superintendent Tiffany Spicer says she believes a turnaround is coming. South Waco Elementary School was among those receiving an F after several years of failing grades. Waco Independent School District officials have worried that an F at the campus this year could trigger a state intervention of the entire district. view article

Trustees approved a plan to restore CIS at five campuses, down from the original 15. The move reduces the district’s cost from $400,000 to $115,000. The program will now run at the following campuses: view article

More than 170 public schools in Texas have shuttered or are on their way to closing since 2023, according to a new report from a public school advocacy group.  Districts from every corner of the state are seeing declining enrollment and facing budget pressures that are triggering the closures. Among the closures, Houston ISD and the Austin ISD are both closing 12 campuses each. San Antonio ISD has 15 campuses closing. And in Fort Worth ISD, 21 schools have closed or are on the chopping block. view article

Texas public school performance as a whole flatlined on state accountability grades, as chronically underperforming districts learned whether they edged closer to state sanctions. Campuses and districts got their state report cards Friday, providing families a glimpse of how well schools educate students. Those who consistently get low grades inch toward state takeovers.  Of the more than 9,000 campuses rated in the 2025-26 school year, 25% got an A, 60% got a B or C, and about 15% got a D or F.   About one in four schools saw their ratings improve, while a nearly similar rate of campuses saw a drop. view article

There’s a big reason to celebrate in Dallas ISD. New TEA ratings show major progress across the district, and some of the biggest highlights are coming out of southern Dallas. In an exclusive interview, Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde shared that several high schools are earning top marks, including South Oak Cliff, Carter, Pinkston and Skyline. view article

Two Austin Independent School District middle schools received their fifth consecutive F ratings, opening the entire district up to a state takeover. Superintendent Matias Segura sat down with KXAN Thursday to go over the schools’ preliminary accountability ratings, which the district received early from the Texas Education Agency. view article

Burnet and Webb middle schools received a fifth consecutive failing accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency, the Austin school district announced Thursday, triggering a state law that directs Education Commissioner Mike Morath to either close the schools or appoint a board of managers to replace the elected school board. view article

Midland ISD received an overall C rating in the state’s preliminary 2026 accountability ratings, marking an improvement in its numerical score. According to the district, Midland ISD received a score of 75 out of 100 for the 2025-26 school year. The district received a 72 in 2025 and a 70 in 2024. view article

A Houston ISD teacher has gone viral after sharing an emotional video about his concern for his students within the first few days of school. In the social media video posted Tuesday, Wheatley High School teacher Darius Williams shares his experience with his senior students. view article

Education reporter Wayne Carter joins NBC 5 Today answering viewer questions about what’s making headlines in North Texas classrooms as the new school year begins. Uncertified teachers, new curriculum, and starting school in July were among the topics. view article

Inflation and federal funding cuts have squeezed Texas’ child care subsidy, causing the Texas Workforce Commission to scale back the program. The Texas Workforce Commission Tuesday voted to cut 9.5% of the state’s child care scholarships, which represents approximately 14,000 seats for children.  For some regions that need to meet lower scholarship numbers in 2027, those cuts will begin by the fourth quarter of 2026, which begins in September.  Child care scholarships are a federal funding program administered by each state, similar to SNAP or Medicaid, meant to provide child care for low-income working families. view article

The students, buzzing with first-day energy, were supposed to be walking. Most were not. Inside the Marine Creek Leadership Academy gym Tuesday morning, physical education teacher Jake Neufeldt told elementary students to use “walking feet” as they spread across the floor, getting ready for their next exercise. A few jumped up out of the “criss cross, applesauce” position and began jogging and shuffling instead. view article