Pine Tree ISD is continuing to increase its technology resources to ensure all students will have the materials they need in case of another closure. The district applied for and received a $97,000 technology lending grant from the Texas Education Agency, Director of Technology Todd Yohn said. view article

On Thursday, June 25, 2020, TEA was notified by USDE that they would be issuing an Interim Final Rule (IFR) under emergency waiver processes. This IFR is considered law once it posts in the Federal Register, which is expected to be July 1.The IFR changes the private school equitable services calculation process for districts applying for the ESSER grant under the CARES Act stimulus funding. This IFR change may impact the amount of equitable services to be provided to participating private schools and how that amount is to be calculated. TEA’s guidance, training, and application will need to be revised. view article

(CEDAR HILL, TX) – Cedar Hill High School Class of 2020 Graduate Richard Kaiser was presented with a $1,000 scholarship from the Best Southwest Partnership on Thursday afternoon. view article

H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt has made a personal contribution of $1,000,000 to Prairie View A&M University in honor of University President Ruth J. Simmons. The funds will be used to support a university race and justice center.  President Simmons joined Prairie View A&M in 2017 after retiring as president of Brown University.  She was born in Grapeland, Texas, and grew up in Houston's Fifth Ward where she graduated from Phyllis Wheatley High School. She holds both a Master of Arts and Ph. D. degree in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — Some Texas school districts have to figure out a plan after not getting the additional money they were counting on to recover from the COVID-19 shutdown. Instead, the Texas Education Agency will put CARES Act funds toward money lost in the 2019-2020 school year.  All Texas school districts were given entitlement amounts from the CARES Act Relief Fund based on their student population. According to the document, Lago Vista ISD's entitlement amount is $127,308. The school districts leaders said they planned to use the money to improve online learning, hire more interventionists who work with students who need extra support and to help kids who fell behind this past spring. view article

Santander Consumer USA Foundation continues its commitment to Dallas ISD students by providing a $150,000 grant to the Dallas Education Foundation–Dallas ISD's nonprofit philanthropic arm–to support distance learning and virtual classrooms. Dallas Education Foundation Executive Director Mita Havlick said the grants funds will be used to fund the development the technology platform students need to successfully engage and participate in at-home learning. view article

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (TNN) - Childcare Partners is teaming up with the Wichita Falls ISD for a new pre-kindergarten program.  That’s thanks to grant money WFISD got from the Texas Education Agency.  The new program will be at the Huey Learning Center across from Scotland Park Elementary.  Instead of the usual half-day program, this new one would be all day for three-year-olds and it would be able to take up to 24 kids.  “Early learning is so important, that’s when all of their little brains are developing and all those connections are being made," said Keri Goins, Childcare Partners executive director. “The earlier that we can start getting them school ready, the better they will be prepared when they do start school, and we don’t want anyone to start school behind.” view article

Founded in 2013, the Marvy Finger Family Foundation Scholarship announced June 2 that it is giving 80 Houston ISD high school graduates full-ride scholarships to pursue a certification or technical career track at a local two-year college.   Over 600 students applied for the program this year, according to the foundation. view article

Carroll ISD reported it has shelled out about $190,000 in COVID-19-related expenses since the start of the pandemic. Now, the district will receive $122,030 from a federal relief package.  District staff reported at a June 1 board meeting that the district will receive the aid as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. view article

Carroll ISD reported it has shelled out about $190,000 in COVID-19-related expenses since the start of the pandemic. Now, the district will receive $122,030 from a federal relief package. view article

Over 350 Katy ISD teachers at 44 campuses received Inspiring Imagination teacher grants this year. Funds for the grants are raised through pledges from business and community investors as well as events such as Fireflies & Foodtrucks, GROOVE and Reason2Race. view article

Junior League of Midland has donated $10,000 to Midland Education Foundation to help supply Wi-Fi hotspots to Midland ISD students for remote learning during the pandemic, according to a press release from the nonprofit.  When schools were closed, MISD checked out more than 3,500 technology devices, such as ChromeBooks, for students to access Google Classroom. WiFi buses were deployed to six distribution locations in the county to support Wi-Fi access. view article

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - KLTV’s Jeff Chavez spoke with Dr. Marty Crawford, Superintendent of Tyler ISD on Tuesday.The district will be receiving a $4.3 million grant from the Cares Act. Dr. Crawford spoke on when the district will receive the grant and what the money will be used for. view article

Longview ISD expects to receive about $52 million in state funds related to its new charter school partnerships, pending Texas Education Agency approval. Just more than $5 million of that will be allocated to the campuses for student needs.  Those funds can be used on materials, technology or teacher training, among other services, Chief Innovation Officer Craig Coleman said.  The district could get about $1.4 million for its partnership with Longview Educates and Prospers and about $50.8 million for its partnership with Texas Council for International Studies.  After fees are removed, the two partnerships together are expected to have $5.08 million to spend on training for teachers, innovative programs, supplies and other student needs. view article

The Waco ISD Education Foundation and its SurPRIZE Patrol virtually visited 11 Waco ISD campuses Thursday to surprise 31 teachers with the news their grant applications were approved for funding for the 2020-2021 school year. view article

The Conroe ISD board of trustees approved two grant applications at its May 19 virtual meeting related to the two major disasters of 2019 and 2020, Tropical Storm Imelda and COVID-19. Deputy Superintendent Chris Hines said the Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations Grant is meant to restart operations in areas that were affected by the tropical storm. Hines said CISD was eligible for $1,944,983 from the grant. view article

Most of the money is expected to go directly to local districts to help vulnerable students during the coronavirus pandemic. But advocates are trying to steer some into controversial policies like expanding virtual schools.  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to destabilize public education, Texas school districts are waiting to learn whether a federal stimulus package could help shore up rocky budgets. view article

GEORGE WEST – Despite the COVID-19 pandemic halting social gatherings in large numbers, members of the George West ISD faculty and family enjoyed an evening of excellence.  GWISD Superintendent Dr. Jim Rosebrock applied for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Award, which the school was named a finalist among Boerne ISD and Fabens ISD in the Small School District Category.  “I felt like we were at a disadvantage as a smaller school with less than ten thousand students,” Dr. Rosebrock said. view article

HALLSVILLE — Hallsville ISD Education Foundation Executive Director Beth Godsey announced Wednesday that the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser of the year, “Get Rowdy, Get Loud,” set for this fall, has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  “After careful consultation with volunteers, the foundation board of directors, and the presenting sponsor, the foundation has made the difficult decision to cancel our largest fundraiser, ‘Get Rowdy, Get Loud,’ set for Sept. 19 at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview,” Godsey said in a statement on Wednesday. “The event would have had opportunities for hundreds of people to come together and really celebrate the great things of the foundation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our event donors and sponsors to raise money for the kids, but we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.” view article

Several local school districts have been benefiting big time from a federal grant designed to help rural areas fund innovative programs they otherwise would not be able to afford. School districts in Premont, Brooks County and Freer are part of the Rural Schools Innovation Zone. It's designed to allow for such programs as engineering, welding and medical programs to be offered at those schools. view article

Longview ISD is submitting 54 teachers for a state teacher incentive program in an effort to increase salaries. Director of Elementary Education John York presented an update on the program to the board at the Monday meeting.  The meeting was livestreamed to adhere to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The teacher incentive program is sponsored by the Texas Education Agency and is part of House Bill 3, a school finance bill passed in the last legislative session. view article

H-E-B announced the winners for its statewide Excellence in Education Awards and Boerne Independent School District took home top honors for best small school district in Texas. Boerne ISD will receive a $50,000 cash prize from H-E-B. Other finalists in the small school district category were Fabens ISD and George West ISD. view article

In April, McKinney ISD secured a grant totaling nearly $400,000 from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to supplement the network of safety and security measures in place across the district.  Over the past five years, MISD has bolstered previous safety and security initiatives in ways that include, but are not limited to: more than doubling the number of security cameras across the district, refining staff and student emergency response procedures, adding more school resource officers, introducing hall monitor security personnel at the district’s three high schools, incorporating security vestibules and Aiphone systems at the front entrance of every campus, installing lockdown buttons at every school and quadrupling the number of security cameras on MISD school buses.   view article

DeKalb Independent School District will receive up to $300,000 in grant funding and in-kind technical assistance over the next three years to implement a Raising Blended Learners program. The district is one of 20 in the state selected for the program. Blended learning refers to the blend of online learning and brick-and-mortar schooling. Blended learning takes place when students learn at least in part online, with some element of student control over the time, place, path, and/or pace of their learning, while also enjoying the benefits that come with education at a physical school, according to the Raise Your Hand Texas website. view article

Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington ISD among 62 districts requesting congressional funding for meals, internet connectivity and online teacher training  In a letter to Congress this week, a coalition compromised of the largest urban school districts in the country is asking for $175 billion in relief related to COVID-19.  The Council of the Great City Schools, which covers 62 districts nationwide, said in a three-page letter sent to congressional leadership, the funding will help offset the on-going costs of providing meals, internet connectivity and online teacher training. view article

The vast majority of Texas State University’s incoming freshmen now will be able to attend school tuition free.  Texas State on Monday announced it would expand its free tuition program, known as Bobcat Promise, in response to growing financial uncertainty amid the coronavirus. Previously, incoming freshmen from families with an adjusted gross income of $35,000 or less were eligible to attend Texas State without having to pay tuition or mandatory fees. Now, the school is expanding the qualifications to include students from families with an income of $50,000 or less. The university estimates 5,600 first-time freshmen already admitted will qualify, totaling about 92% of the total number of freshmen in 2018, the most recent year available. view article

A U.S. congressman is demanding answers from the U.S. Education Department, alleging department employees complained to his office about political interference in the awarding of a multimillion-dollar federal grant to the controversial IDEA charter school network. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) sent a letter to the department Monday asking for details and records related to the awarding of the grant.    view article

On behalf of our board of directors and executive director of the Texas City Independent School District's Foundation for the Future, we want to thank district teachers and students for remaining resilient and committed to achieving academic excellence.  It's amazing the difference weeks can make — especially for the nonprofits serving Galveston County. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted our area in a multitude of ways, but our commitment to the students and teachers of the district is unwavering. view article

LINDALE, Texas (KETK) – The annual Lindale ISD “Grant Patrol” had to get creative in light of COVID-19. Despite inclement weather, that didn’t stop them from giving away grants to teachers who deserved it.  Back in January, teachers submitted creative ideas to make learning more meaningful for students. Now, the Lindale ISD Education Foundation awards more than $35,000 to educators to implement new ideas for classroom projects.  Giving away the grants were a team made up of LISD staff members and volunteers. They went from house to house handing out grants, flowers, and balloons. view article

CEDAR HILL, TX – School safety is a top priority for the Cedar Hill Independent School District.The District is grateful for the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which recently granted CHISD with a $126,050 Notice of Grant Award (NOGA). The funds will boost security enhancement projects that were already underway in the District.  “The grant funds will primarily be utilized to support increased security features at Cedar Hill High School and to improve radio communication on all campuses,” CHISD Deputy Superintendent Kellie Spencer said. “This will allow CHISD to increase campus safety because of infrastructure improvements and better access to real time information through the District.” view article

This past fall, Mesquite ISD went up against Richardson ISD in Medical City’s Kids Teaching Kids 21-Day Challenge. The one that had the highest percentage of kids finishing the healthy snack challenge wins. The winning district would get $12,000 from Medical City’s corporate supporters and the runner-up would get $5,000. Mesquite ISD came out on top and will be sent a check from United Way Dallas. view article

Port Aransas schools are getting reimbursed for measures they took to get things up and running after Hurricane Harvey. The district on Monday announced it had received a grant for more than $1.2 million Federal Emergency Management Agency to help pay for things such as generators, air dryers, portables and security. Those items and more were needed in the aftermath of the Category 4 storm hit the area Aug. 25, 2017. view article

The Round Rock school district awarded $1.9 million in grants to 34 campuses to help foster innovation in schools through programs, models or initiatives that enrich learning. The grants range from $7,500 to $100,000 and support the district’s strategic goal of implementing, enhancing and reinforcing innovative teachings and learning models, according to a district news release. view article

Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN)announced today that its 2015 corporate and foundation giving to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education totals almost $6 million. Focused on collaborative strategies to improve student success and teaching effectiveness in STEM education, TI and the Texas Instruments Foundation designate "Power of STEM Education" grants to a variety of nonprofit partners and educators in targeted communities where the company has a major design or manufacturing presence. Special emphasis is given to programs that reach female and minority students who are underrepresented in science and engineering careers today. view article

A local school that has been underperforming for years, is shaking things up for the new school year with the help of a $4.8 million grant. Indian Spring Middle School is under a state mandate to turn things around and their principal is hoping this multi-million dollar grant will help them do just that. view article