Emergency responders say better tools and preparation also played life-saving roles after intense storms dropped heavy amounts of rain.  One year after catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people along the Guadalupe River, another round of deadly July flooding swept across Central and South Texas, creating flash flood emergencies that forced evacuations and rescues along the Guadalupe and elsewhere.  But while the two July storms were sometimes similar in intensity and effect, they unfolded in unique ways — swift and concentrated last year vs. multiple rounds of heavy rain over days across a broad region this week.  And while weather officials said they took the same approach to issuing warnings, residents and responders on the ground said they had more tools available to them and the motivation of anxiety borne from last year’s horrific tragedy.  The result: A dramatically lower death toll amid widespread and catastrophic flooding.   “I mean, it’s so fresh in everybody’s memory, about the flood and about being so surprised that it got that big and that it made it far and all that kind of stuff,” said Center Point resident Kay Steadham, who felt people took emergency alerts more seriously this go around.   Last year’s flooding came from an exceptionally intense burst of late-night rain that pummeled a small area at the headwaters of the south fork of the Guadalupe River. Some 7 to 12 inches of rain fell mostly over three hours, propelling a huge and deadly wave of water downstream. The National Weather Service issued alerts through the storm, but the worst of the flooding happened overnight, in the dark while people slept. Some alerts may not have been received if cell service was lacking or phone alerts were disabled. Some people described getting alerts but not feeling worried because floods often happen in Flash Flood Alley. view article

Prosecutors said the bribes were intended to help fund her sister's judicial campaign.  view article

Arcola Mayor Fred Anthony Burton was arrested and booked into the Fort Bend County Jail on five felony charges after a grand jury indictment, according to online jail records.  Burton, 68, faces two counts of illegal voting, one count of misuse of official information, one count of tampering with a government record, and one count of fraudulently securing the execution of a document.   The illegal voting charges are tied to two separate Arcola elections, the municipal runoff held June 7, 2025, and the city’s general, joint, and special election held April 23, 2026. The indictments allege Burton helped, encouraged, or failed to prevent three people from voting when he knew they were not eligible to do so. view article

Three Alvin ISD employees have been fired after allegedly mishandling special education students in a classroom, according to Nolan Ryan Junior High's principal. Principal Dana Green said in a statement to Nolan Ryan Junior High families that the incident involving the inappropriate physical handling of students occurred in May, at the end of the 2025-26 school year. view article

The concern followed a recent unrelated case in which a Tomball ISD employee was indicted on federal wire fraud charges. view article

The ruling is being touted as a win for President Trump’s energy agenda.    A federal appellate court has cleared the way for the Delfin LNG deepwater port in the Gulf of America, rejecting a legal challenge by three left-wing environmental organizations. The groups had sought to vacate the project’s federal license.   The organizations failed to demonstrate that a single one of their members had suffered or faced an injury traceable to the project. The ruling is being touted as a win for President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.   The port would feature a cluster of floating vessels moored miles offshore, liquefying natural gas and loading it onto tankers bound overseas.  The company asked the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard for approval.   In compliance with the Deepwater Port Act (DPA), MARAD notified Texas and Louisiana—as adjacent states—so their governors could approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve the project. Neither governor responded.  MARAD then published five federal register notices, held six public hearings in the two states, invited public comment four times, and prepared a 2016 environmental impact statement (EIS) exceeding 1,800 pages—analyzing the project’s effects on the environment, socioeconomics, transportation, and air quality. view article

More than a dozen attorneys and former law enforcement officials reviewed footage of the deadly ICE car pursuit for The Texas Tribune. They said ICE’s tactics were breaking with best practice and possibly the law. view article

There are new developments in the legal battle involving the now-reassigned Western Hills High School principal who is suing the Fort Worth Independent School District. view article

Attorneys for the school district and Principal April Jewell argue they are “entitled” to depose a 10-year-old girl who was 5 when she was repeatedly molested at school by a teacher.   view article

When Kristin Sullivan's son, Rhys, was told he'd have to transfer schools from Bellaire High School to Sharpstown High School for special education classes, the family says they were devastated. "We got the infamous letter which sent our entire family into a tailspin," Sullivan said. "[Rhys] was devastated, but then his siblings were devastated for him. Lots of tears in our house." view article

A former Temple High School substitute teacher has been charged with four counts of improper relationship between educator and student and two counts of sexual assault of a child, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by 6 News. view article

It’s that time of year when weather conditions can be unpredictable. A small chance of rain can rapidly turn into lightning, high winds, and hail. When emergency repairs arise, it’s important for school districts to be able to respond quickly and legally. Let’s review the process for districts to utilize when responding to the need for emergency repairs and steps to take in preparation for when emergency repairs are required.

Ever wondered how the regulations that impact public schools are made? Regulations are created by Texas state agencies under the requirements of The Texas Administrative Procedure Act. These types of laws were adopted across the country, beginning in the 1940s, to ensure fairness while bringing efficiency and accuracy into the states’ administrative processes.

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) use is on the rise in Texas schools. From lesson-planning platforms to student-facing chatbots, AI is reshaping how instruction happens. But as more people use AI, one question lingers: Who is responsible when mishaps occur? In Texas, AI creates legal complexities where education law already demands careful attention to student privacy, curriculum standards, and teacher certification. Because AI provides a new way to violate state and federal laws, even inadvertently, educators and administrators must be mindful when using AI to ensure that the law is still being followed.

As we all know by now, the 89th Legislative Session(s) brought numerous changes to the world of special education. In the midst of all of the high-profile special education legislation, one important change may have slipped through the cracks: House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 568 made changes to the requirements surrounding surveillance of special education settings.

You might have thought the latest Legislative session was a significant change to public education, and you are right. But the most significant change to public education in Texas came from the institution of Districts of Innovation (DOI). For years, public schools complained that they were being compared to charter schools and that was not an apples-to-apples comparison, but DOIs provide school districts the freedom to opt out of many of the laws and requirements with which charter schools are not saddled.

The 89th legislative session has produced a staggering number of changes to the landscape of Texas education. Perhaps one of the more jarring changes was the addition of chapter 26A to the Texas Education Code. This new chapter codifies the grievance provisions that school districts are required to implement in policy. Some of the requirements in the Chapter simply mirror the procedures already common amongst school districts, such as the use of a multi-tiered grievance appeal process. Others, however, depart from the usual grievance procedures or create new procedures entirely. This article will highlight some of the largest departures from past grievance procedures and discuss the implications of these changes for Texas school districts.

My favorite article that I have written over the years is one on official state holidays and recognitions. I find it fascinating to see which lobbyists succeed in recognitions for their cause. I look at this calendar and wonder why Monarch butterflies and veterinarian technicians get their own week, Lung Cancers Awareness gets only one day, Gold Star mothers get a day but not fathers, and there are no recognition days in December? Did you know that the 11 th day of each month is a recognition “day?”

In case you are running low on things to worry about this semester, never fear. This article is dedicated to the False Claims Act (FCA), another tool the federal government appears happy to point in the direction of public schools.

A Garland ISD employee is on administrative leave after allegedly taking photos of a female elementary school student while she was in the restroom. The incident reportedly took place during the week of March 29 at Abbett Elementary, according to an email sent to parents on Thursday, April 1. view article

Pursuant to subsection 38.001(f) of the Education Code, the Legislature provided that a student who has not received the immunizations required by law “for reasons of conscience, including because of the person’s religious beliefs, may be excluded from school in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the commissioner of public health.” Read in context, a court likely would conclude that this exception does not permit exclusion of students who lack vaccinations unrelated to an existing "epidemic" contemplated by subsection 38.001(f). view article

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On May 4, 2020, the Department of Education (“DOE”) issued new Title IX regulations, which direct how educational institutions receiving federal funds must address reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault involving both students and employees. view article

At SL&A, we offer a full array of legal services for our school law clients throughout Texas. We strive to deliver a high-level of client service through teamwork, calling upon our attorneys’ decades of public and private experience to provide practical solutions and advice for all school needs. view article

Officers with the Hudson ISD Police Department arrested a former math teacher for the school district on Monday in connection to allegations that he had an improper relationship with a high school student that included sexual contact. view article

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) officially filed a grievance against the Wimberley Independent School District, according to our partners at the Austin-American Statesman. The grievance is the result of an email Superintendent Dwain York sent to some parents in December 2019 regarding the altering of the district's logo to include the colors of the gay pride flag, according to the Statesman. view article

A former student has filed a lawsuit against Dallas ISD after he lost his status as his high school’s salutatorian a day before graduation due to a last minute change in rankings. In June, the district apologized after class rankings at Woodrow Wilson High School were changed right before graduation because of a calculation error. Now a former student is suing Dallas ISD, claiming that the change will affect his applications to universities and employers. view article

Terry Burchett, 69, was arrested in South Carolina on February 18 on charges of child pornography. He was found to be in possession of over 9,800 sexually explicit images of children according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. view article

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Irving ISD and the city of Irving by Ahmed Mohamed's family, according to Dallas Morning News. Ahmed made headlines when he was 14 years old and made a clock in school that was mistaken for a bomb in 2015. His family stated that his civil rights were violated when he was arrested at MacArthur High School and charged with making a "hoax bomb." The charge was later dropped, but he was still suspended. view article

A Lockhart High School science teacher has been arrested for having an improper relationship with a 17-year-old male student. Sarah Fowlkes started at the district in October 2014. On March 10, 2017 a school administrator reached out to Lockhart Police after receiving a "concerning report." LPD launched an investigation and determined Fowlkes was engaged in sexual contact with the student. view article

The plaintiffs continued building their case Tuesday in the instance of a student at Lewisville ISD who is suing the school for Title IX violations. The girl was 14 years old when she said she went to a high school party and got sexually assaulted by two high school football players at Hebron, a school in the Lewisville district. view article

When Deron Harrington filed a lawsuit on behalf of three parents in May 2015, he was trying to make sure the district where his kids attended school was following student truancy laws. He had a hunch that wasn't the case. At the time, Fort Bend ISD was making headlines for referring thousands of students to the county's specialized truancy court. Data showed a disproportionate number of the district's students referred to truancy court were African-American. As a lawyer, Harrington thought he could make a difference. view article

On March 11, 2016, the Texas Education Agency Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, requested an opinion from the Texas Attorney General on the implementation of SB 507. This new law requires video surveillance of certain special education settings upon request beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. In an earlier blog post, I outlined the provisions of SB 507. view article

More than two months after a tornado hit Shields Elementary School in northern Ellis County on Dec. 26, Red Oak ISD confirmed Thursday that the original builder of the school, Ratcliff Constructors, has agreed to pay for the repairs. Fox 4's Lori Brown began investigating concerns about the quality of construction at the school  in Glenn Heights after an exterior wall collapsed in the tornado. view article

When Gene and Shirene McIntyre met with an attendance officer in the El Paso Independent School District in November 2006, their nine grandchildren had already been homeschooled for more than a year. But they were concerned the kids weren’t getting a proper education. view article