The school said under Surratt’s leadership, the school district has passed two bond elections, three tax ratification elections and received A ratings.  “First, I want to thank the Board of Trustees for wanting to nominate me for the honor of Region VII Superintendent of the Year,” said Surratt. “Superintendents get nominated when things go very well in a school system. Because of our wonderful students and families, plus our fantastic staff, things have gone extremely well for Lindale ISD for many, many years. I am so blessed to be a part of this great school district and excited about the future of Lindale ISD.” view article arw

Texas colleges risk millions in state funding if they have diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campuses as a new law banning such initiatives will be strictly enforced, a state senator warned. Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, announced Tuesday that he sent a letter to Texas university leaders reinforcing the expectations and oversight process of the ban he authored aimed at keeping DEI programs out of state schools. ADVERTISEMENT The new law, also known as Senate Bill 17, bans DEI from public higher education institutions and went into effect Jan. 1. Schools that break the law could lose state funding. Texas is on track to spend more than $30 billion on higher education in the current two-year cycle, which runs through 2025. That includes millions for individual campuses. view article arw

Before 8 a.m. on a Tuesday in early September, a staffer with the Texas Education Agency was on a "cross country parental leave road trip" when an urgent text came in from Kristen Hole, the Chief Academic Officer for Houston ISD. The teachers' union had sued the district, temporarily blocking a controversial performance evaluation system for educators — a key pillar of the sweeping reforms from state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles. view article arw

The Socorro Independent School District violated the Texas Education Code by graduating students who did not meet requirements, failing to disclose Trustee Paul Guerra’s connections to a vendor used by the district, and paying $283,000 in unauthorized stipends, according to a report released Friday by the Texas Education Agency. view article arw

Late this week, the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD did something many thought impossible: he listened. It took several protests, community outcry and some three hours of overwhelmingly negative public comment during Thursday's school board meeting, but Mike Miles seems to have heard the message. The uproar began with the leaked release of a list of 117 principals the district said weren't performing well enough yet to secure their spot for next year. Several of the principals at top-rated schools were on the list. Parents and students from those campuses showed up in force. Early Friday morning, with the meeting still plodding along, Miles announced that he and the board of managers changed course and said they wouldn't make any adverse employment decisions this year based off of these proficiency screenings, which broadly measure student achievement with a variety of test data, quality of instruction gathered during spot observations and professionalism judged by a rubric that includes how well principals reinforce "district culture and philosophy." But, he made clear, he would still use the more comprehensive principal evaluation system approved last fall to make those decisions at the end of the school year. view article arw

Late this week, the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD did something many thought impossible: he listened. It took several protests, community outcry and some three hours of overwhelmingly negative public comment during Thursday's school board meeting, but Mike Miles seems to have heard the message. The uproar began with the leaked release of a list of 117 principals the district said weren't performing well enough yet to secure their spot for next year. Several of the principals at top-rated schools were on the list. Parents and students from those campuses showed up in force. Early Friday morning, with the meeting still plodding along, Miles announced that he and the board of managers changed course and said they wouldn't make any adverse employment decisions this year based off of these proficiency screenings, which broadly measure student achievement with a variety of test data, quality of instruction gathered during spot observations and professionalism judged by a rubric that includes how well principals reinforce "district culture and philosophy." But, he made clear, he would still use the more comprehensive principal evaluation system approved last fall to make those decisions at the end of the school year. view article arw

The Socorro Independent School District violated the Texas Education Code by graduating students who did not meet requirements, failing to disclose Trustee Paul Guerra’s connections to a vendor used by the district, and paying $283,000 in unauthorized stipends, according to a report released Friday by the Texas Education Agency. view article arw

At the monthly school board meeting on Thursday, the 10 state appointees who lead Houston ISD faced nearly 150 members of the public — each limited to one-minute comments, delivered over the course of about three hours. The message was almost universal, and it appears to have resonated with the state-appointed leaders to some degree. view article arw

More than half of all of Houston ISD’s graduates enroll in higher education within a year of graduating from the district, but the college enrollment rates across high schools varies significantly. Nearly 96% of graduates at Carnegie Vanguard High School in 2022 enrolled in college within a year of graduation, while about 27% of students who graduated Wheatley High School in the same year went on to enroll in higher education during the same time period. The average rate district wide was about 54%. view article arw

The rain didn’t stop dozens of parents and community members from showing up to protest outside the Marriott Marquis Downtown, where Superintendent Mike Miles held his State of the District luncheon. Christine Anderson is a parent with a high schooler in the district and said she opposed the New Education System since she first found out about it. view article arw

There’s a disturbing statistic the Austin ISD Board of Trustees is all too aware of. Research shows young adults without a postsecondary credential have just a 12% chance of earning a living wage within six years of leaving high school. In Travis County, a graduate with no kids needs to make about $24 an hour to earn a living wage. Creslond Fannin, Austin ISD’s executive director of Early College High School, cited the statistic at the March 7 school board meeting. She continued, “It really focuses in on why TSI is so important.” view article arw

It’s been four years since the shutdown of businesses and schools due to COVID-19. The effects of the pandemic are still being felt in public education, sometimes through declining enrollment numbers. Fewer students means less money to operate. Culwell Consulting CEO Curtis Culwell said, “COVID changed the dynamic of a lot of things that impact school enrollment and school attendance.” view article arw

Beaumont ISD has told parents it's considering closing one of its five middle schools for the next academic year. During its Thursday meeting, the Beaumont ISD Board of Trustees is set to vote on whether to close Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School for the 2024-25 school year, according to the agenda documents. Parents were informed of the possible changes in an email sent out on Tuesday evening. view article arw

On average, Prosper ISD students surpassed state and Region 10 scores for the SAT and ACT exams in the 2021-22 school year, according to state data. The context: The Texas Education Agency provides data on the performance of each school and district in the state through the Texas Academic Performance Report, also known as TAPR. Jeff Crownover, deputy superintendent of academics and school leadership, presented the report to the board of trustees Feb. 19. view article arw

The Austin school board by an 8-1 vote Tuesday night accepted a Texas Education Agency proposal to install a state-appointed monitor to help oversee the district's special education department in response to chronic backlogs in evaluating students for services. The monitor — someone who would report to the TEA on the district's improvement — will supervise tight guidelines to complete the outstanding special education evaluations and ensure staff members undergo extensive training, among other requirements. Had the district rejected the state's proposal, the TEA could have sought stricter sanctions, such as placing a conservator to direct the district's actions in improving the backlog. “That’s a tough pill to swallow, but for me a tougher pill to swallow would be inviting a conservator in,” said school board President Arati Singh. view article arw

Austin (KXAN) —The lingering effects of the pandemic have caused many Texas school districts to struggle with attendance rates and funding, leading many to adopt a four-day school week model to help. In Texas, there are currently 83 districts that have approved a four-day school week, affecting almost 96,000 students, according to a KXAN analysis. Lometa ISD, about 100 miles north of Austin, is one of the districts that adopted a four-day school week, and Superintendent Rob Moore said it is already helping. “We are currently at about 96% attendance, which would be slightly improved from the most recent years,” said Moore. “We have shown a marked increase in student enrollment since beginning the four-day week.” view article arw

State-appointed superintendent Mike Miles accused news outlets of distorting his performance evaluation system for campus principals. Researchers and multiple principals have said it’s too complicated, and more Houston ISD community members are now calling for it to end — and for Miles to go. view article arw

It's out with the new and back to the old in the Jasper Independent School District after the board voted to return to the original five-day school week. Our media partner, Mike Lout with KJAS, reports trustees voted 4-3 during Monday night's meeting to drop the four-day school week this fall. The board made the change to the shorter school week when it voted on the revised calendar in 2022. view article arw

A California mother drove 80 miles this month to find an SAT testing center with an open seat where her high school junior could take the exam. During college tours this spring, a teen recalled hearing some would-be applicants groan when admissions staffers announced they could not guarantee test-optional policies would continue. And across the country, college counselors are fielding questions from teenagers alarmed, encouraged or simply confused by what seems like the return of the standardized test in admissions — maybe? Sort of? In some places, but not in others? “You could be expecting and preparing for a certain way to apply to a college and present yourself — but then they change it mid-application process,” said Kai Talbert, a 17-year-old high school junior in Pennsylvania. “That’s really confusing. It can set back a lot of people.” view article arw

(Austin) — There had been a move, by colleges and universities, to stop using SAT and ACT scores for admission requirements, but a major university in Texas is now bucking that trend. The University of Texas at Austin will once again require standardized testing scores for incoming freshmen. That decision comes four years after it abandoned the requirement. But experts, like Harry Feder, of Fair Test, say this makes the flagship campus a bit of an out-lier, nationwide. “Over 80-percent, of all degree conferring instutions in the United States, are either test-optional or test-free,” said Feder. view article arw

On the first day after Spring Break, Houston Independent School District’s Superintendent Mike Miles tried to set the record straight, saying the district does not plan to fire more than 100 principals. Some of those principles got notices last week they interpreted as threats that if they didn’t improve, they could lose their jobs. view article arw

Despite public outcry, Texas House Representative Harold Dutton Jr. isn’t sorry he opened the door to the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District. In fact, he’s proud of it. “Some people mistakenly believe that the idea first came from Gov. Greg Abbott or some other Republican. But in fact, it came from me, a Democrat,” Dutton wrote in an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle back in March when the state first announced its decision to take over the district, oust its elected board, and install an unelected board of managers and superintendent. But since the state installed Mike Miles as superintendent of the district, chaos and disruption have only grown: At least 58 principals have left or been removed; more than 600 teachers have resigned—twice the number compared to each of the following two school years after the pandemic; and hundreds of students have been walking out of the classroom chanting, “School feels like a prison.” view article arw

With Spring Break now over, many Houston Independent School District educators may unfortunately find themselves out of a job next year. Superintendent Mike Miles is expected to hold a news conference Monday morning to discuss the possibility of removing nearly half of HISD’s principals for the 2024-2025 school year. view article arw

Education community in Socorro ISD (SISD) was shocked last week to learn that following a closed-door session, the school district’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to request that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) appoint one or more conservators to oversee the district’s operations. Why did the SISD Board of Trustees make this drastic decision? While the board has not been fully transparent with the community regarding the reasons for this move, TEA has since confirmed that SISD accepted a proposed agreement from the agency to settle eight ongoing special investigations of the district through the appointment of one or more conservators by Commissioner Mike Morath and the public release of a final report into the investigations. view article arw

Students at Houston Independent School District are gaining valuable life skills through the innovative DYAD Program. Under the DYAD Specialty Classes, NES and NES-A students in grades three through eight have the opportunity to explore various categories such as fitness, music, fine arts, 21st-century media and technology, hands-on science, and gardening. view article arw

Add the College Station school board to those going on record opposing the Texas Education Association’s (TEA) current accountability system. Instead of joining a lawsuit filed by some school districts against the TEA, the CSISD board at the February 20th meeting adopted a resolution submitted by superintendent Tim Harkrider. Harkrider’s cover letter to his school board says many districts were unable to join the lawsuit due to financial, political, or other reasons. Harkrider wrote that the resolution was meant to support opponents to what he says is the TEA’s “abrupt, unfair, and unlawful changes” to the current accountability system for public schools. The CSISD board passed the non binding resolution on a unanimous vote. view article arw

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Knowing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, more well known as CPR, could save someone’s life in an emergency that could happen anywhere, anytime. Just ask Eduardo Quintanilla, a 6th grade physical education teacher at Eastwood Middle School. Back in February, one of Quintanilla's classes had just started running a mile as part of the FitnessGram physical fitness test. As he looked to the other side of the track, he saw a group of students huddled around another who had just fallen. Quintanilla says while not uncommon for kids to trip during this test, he knew something wasn’t right this time, and immediately ran over to the fallen student. view article arw

Thousands of Houston ISD students have left the district since the Texas Education Agency's takeover, on top of an already declining enrollment, amounting to a 12 percent drop in students over the last five years. view article arw

Houston ISD is again embroiled in internal strife and public controversy. On Friday, the district released performance ratings to principals. After the Houston Chronicle published details about the ratings, the administration suggested the possibility of legal action against the news outlet and launched an investigation to find the source of the leak. view article arw

Nearly half of Houston ISD principals were put on notice Thursday evening after receiving the results of their "mid-year proficiency screenings" informing them that they must undergo further screenings and achieve higher ratings if they wish to keep their jobs, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle's Sam Gonzalez Kelly.  The notice came one day before HISD lets out for spring break, potentially throwing a wrench into principals' holiday plans. view article arw

The Socorro Independent School District accepted extreme state oversight “to improve the public’s trust in us, in spite of the challenges that we’re facing,” the school board president said Thursday. He just can’t say what those challenges are. “Only (the Texas Education Agency) can release that information when their final report is in,” board President Michael Najera said at a news conference at district headquarters, two days after the board voted unanimously to accept a conservator appointed by TEA who would wield strong oversight power in Socorro ISD. view article arw

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Conversations have sparked over State Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Mineral Wells, intent to file legislation that will eliminate the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Currently, Texas are not in a legislative session, so this will not be proposed until the next one in 2025. This comes during the height of a primary election where education reform has been a significant topic of discussion. view article arw

The Socorro Independent School District (SISD) Board of Trustees accepted the appointment of a Texas Education Agency (TEA) conservator to work with the district, SISD announced in a press release sent Wednesday, March 6. view article arw

The Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to ask the Texas Education Agency to take over governance of El Paso’s second-largest school district. The action came after a closed-door session of the school board Tuesday. During the vote, trustees said little beyond making a motion, and unanimously approving an order to request the state agency to appoint one or more conservators to oversee operations of the district. view article arw

After seven years of heightened oversight due to governance problems and noncompliance with state procurement rules, the Texas Education Agency is loosening its grip on Southside Independent School District. The district will no longer be under the control of a state-appointed conservator, marking a “significant milestone in its journey towards educational excellence,” a news release said. view article arw