Agenda -  William B. Travis Building - Room 1-104  - 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin, TX  The meeting will be webcast at:http://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea/ read more

AUSTIN – Four Generation Twenty-Three charter school applicants today successfully completed the final step of the state’s charter application process allowing them to begin operation in Texas for the 2019-2020 school year once any contingencies are met. view article

The State Board of Education indicated in a preliminary vote on Wednesday that it would change the name of Texas' new high school Mexican-American history course to “Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies.” The unanimous vote came a day after activists urged the board in public testimony to scrap the title members chose for the course in April, “Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent,” saying the longer title was an assault on their ethnic identity. view article

Advocates and scholars spent Tuesday, June 12 pleading with the Texas State Board of Educationto correct their many racially insensitive and historically inaccurate mistakes. In 2010, the SBOE passed such ideological social studies curriculum standards, even a conservative think tank slapped them with a failing grade for giving students a "politicized distortion of history." (That's gotta sting.) In testimony, academics suggested the board reverse its claim that slavery was not the principal cause of the Civil War, and criticized the standards for glorifying Confederate leaders such as Stonewall Jackson.  view article

Texas activists pushing for a high school course on Mexican-American history won a hard-fought victory in April, when the State Board of Education voted to create the class. But that victory was bittersweet, as Republicans and one Democrat on the 15-member board voted to name the course “Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent” rather than “Mexican-American Studies,” the title that advocates for the class favored. view article

Here's the good news: The State Board of Education is making some headway on approving a long-sought Mexican-American studies course in Texas. It's past time public school students, the majority of whom are Latino, learn more about their culture and history in this country. That's why it's such a shame that a board member has picked a petty fight over what the course should be called, threatening to again derail progress and good will over an issue that's been years in the making.  At least four years of stumbling and false starts finally culminated in preliminary approval of standards for the elective course in April. But not before conservative board member David Bradley came up with a last-minute amendment to name it "Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent" instead of Mexican-American studies. view article

For more than four years academics and activists have been advocating for a Mexican American Studies course before the Texas State Board of Education.  The Republican-controlled board heard appeal after appeal for Mexican American Studies coursework for high school students as an elective. It even approved the development of standards for a course of that name.  Board members have witnessed protesters outside its Austin chambers holding signs that refer to Mexican American Studies and MAS. It heard that acronym a lot as it considered and eventually rejected two textbooks, one for racist content. Both books used that acronym. view article

SAN BENITO — The San Benito school district is looking into the possibility of opening up a Mexican American studies course.  After years of being denied, a Mexican American studies course was passed by the Texas State Board of Education recently, opening up possibilities for school districts across Texas.  Originally presented as Mexican American Studies, Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent could become available for use in Texas classrooms in the 2019-2020 school year. view article

Spend some time with this survey! - js -  Texans believe the top two desired outcomes for public schools are to teach communications, problem-solving, critical thinking and other employability skills and to prepare students to be productive citizens, according to results of a survey conducted on behalf of the State Board of Education.  As part of the board’s effort to gather citizen input as it prepares a new Long-Range Plan for Public Education, a survey was conducted on five topics: view article

The Texas Education Agency’s timeline for screening applicants to establish new charter school systems was announced at the close of today’s State Board of Education meeting. TEA staff will interview six applicants on May 21-22; SBOE members also may participate in the questioning. The commissioner of education then is expected to make his approval recommendations by May 31, subject to case-by-case veto by the 15-member SBOE on June 15.  view article

The next meeting of the trustees of the Teacher Retirement System on April 19-20 gives us a fresh opportunity to call for increased state contributions to counteract erosion of pension benefits and steep health-care cost increases burdening both active and retired school employees.   view article

Texas may change how your child understands biology when taught in a public high school classroom. The Texas' Board of Education tentatively approved changes to portions of the states Biology curriculum. Instead of asking Texas public school students to “evaluate” scientific explanations for the origins of DNA and the complexity of certain cells, the state will now ask that the students "examine" the scientific explanations for the origins of DNA and complexity of certain cells. In the past, some educators have argued that the word "evaluate" encouraged students to challenge the scientific theory of evolution and opened the door to teaching creationism. view article

The Georgetown Board of Trustees has hired Fred Brent as the district's newest superintendent. view article