Report also finds Texas districts are increasingly relying on AI to evaluate what books should be removed from school shelves.  Texas districts banned more books in public schools than any other state in the nation — and leaders are increasingly using artificial intelligence to decide what to ban, according to PEN America.    The nonprofit, which advocates for freedom of speech across the country, released a reportMonday recording the number of book bans in U.S. public schools. It found that schools took 11,982 books off library shelves across the U.S. in the 2025-26 school year — the highest number since PEN America started tracking bans in 2021. view article

A growing number of parents and policy makers are concerned about how much screen time students are exposed to at school. In some cases, those concerns have come from students themselves One of those student groups is Descreened, which aims to encourage teenagers to spend less time looking at screens and more time experiencing the real world. The group was founded by Wylie High School seniors Ahmed Farooqui and Atharva Naveen. view article

Longview ISD has announced the opening of a new e-sports arena designed to give students experience in competitive gaming, digital media and live event production. view article

The Central Texas school district’s new initiative aims to promote healthier habits and hands-on learning while reducing students’ reliance on classroom technology. view article

Artificial intelligence is already part of at least 30 programs used by Huntington ISD, and district officials are working to catch up with rules for how employees and students should use it. During Monday’s regularly scheduled school board meeting, Huntington administrators outlined their plans to review programs that contain AI features, update their responsible-use guidelines and develop procedures for evaluating the technology as a whole.  During the discussion, Jeff Baird, director of technology, described the challenge as something that goes beyond deciding whether a specific program belongs in the classroom. He said the district must consider what the software does, what decisions it makes and how much actual human oversight is involved. view article

Starting in August 2027, Carroll ISD students in grades 5-8 will no longer be allowed to use personal electronic devices during the school day. The Carroll ISD board of directors approved the update to the academic planning guide at its Sept. 14 meeting as an expansion of its previous initiatives to reduce screen time in the district. view article

Two Lamesa ISD employees were arrested in connection with a law enforcement investigation involving allegations of a breach of computer security, according to a press release by the Lamesa Independent School District Friday morning. The Lamesa Police Department announced in a press release that authorities, along with the Texas Rangers, arrested 54-year-old Auerilo Garza at approximately 5:00 p.m. on Thursday for Criminal Responsibility for Conduct of Another in Lamesa. Shortly after, at around 5:45 p.m., the Martin County Sheriff’s Office apprehended 40-year-old Gabriel Flores for Breach of Computer Security in Stanton, Texas. view article

Two Lamesa ISD employees have been arrested in connection with an investigation involving allegations of a breach of computer security. Lamesa ISD said in a statement Friday morning “the allegations do not involve the disclosure of district data, including student, personnel, or security information.” The district said the investigation involves the alleged deletion of a set of records typically maintained by law enforcement. view article

Northside Independent School District is partnering with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT for Teachers to educators across the district, joining a growing number of school systems using artificial intelligence as a classroom and productivity tool. NISD expects to begin rolling out the program in October. The district said teachers will not be required to use ChatGPT, but instead will have access to it as another tool they can use to support their work. view article

Texas A&M Health Says School Cell Phone Ban Allows Teachers to ‘Reclaim Lost Attention’  Texas A&M Health reports that Texas’ new limits on cell phones for students during the school day are allowing teachers to “reclaim lost attention.”  Lawmakers passed House Bill 1481 in 2025 which requires “all school systems to adopt and implement a policy prohibiting the use of personal communication devices by students on school property during the school day.”   According to A&M’s research, despite initial anxiety from teachers, parents, and students about the new statewide requirement, concerns quickly abated leaving teachers more energy to focus on educating students.“There was this palpable anxiety on campus for weeks leading up to the school cellphone ban about how we were going to enforce it, but by the end of day one, it was just a total breath of fresh air,” said Rachel Bailey, an 11th-grade history teacher for College Station Independent School District. view article

Texas officials point to academic gains in Houston and Shepherd ISDs, but researchers say takeovers nationwide have produced mixed results. view article

Artificial intelligence company Open AI is partnering with a growing number of school districts in Texas, including one here in San Antonio. Northside Independent School District confirmed it will be using ChatGPT for Teachers, an artificial intelligence chatbot made by OpenAI specifically for school systems and educators.  “Teachers, whether at NISD or elsewhere, they’re busy and they spend an inordinate amount of time on lessons, grading, all the things that make their classrooms successful,” said Leann Kidd, executive director of technology services at NISD.  view article

North Texas is ahead of markets such as Seattle and Boston, even beating out Texas cousins Austin and Houston.   North Texas rose to No. 5 in North America among large markets for its technology workforce, according to a recent report by CBRE, the Dallas-based real estate firm. D-FW in 2025 surpassed the greater Los Angeles area, which fell to No. 6. Dallas-Fort Worth has passed up a massive California market in a key technology ranking.  view article

Students from all five Lubbock high schools have the opportunity to learn more about the many facets of the media industry through Career and Technical Education and Lubbock ISD-TV. Elizabeth Roup, its coordinator, says this is the perfect space for students to grow as young professionals. “Our students get so much hands-on experience and it’s so awesome for them,” Roup said. A lot of times, I tell them they don’t even know how fortunate they are, because there’s colleges across the country that don’t have this space.” view article

This summer, the literary agencies Europa Content and Hodgman Literary shook the publishing world when they withdrew from sale a manuscript for the highly anticipated crime novel “Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body.” The book, written by Nigerian author Jerry Falade, had already generated plenty of online buzz. It had secured multimillion-dollar deals from major publishers in both the United States and the United Kingdom and was slated to be released in 2028.  It was also, the literary agencies said, unclear whether the book had been written by Mr. Falade or by an artificial intelligence chatbot. view article

Tech companies are lining up to voice support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s audit of data centers seeking to connect to the power grid, although little is known about what the audit will entail or what it means for the data center construction boom.  Since the Aug. 3 announcement, at least 43 companies — including juggernauts like Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services — have issued public statements expressing support for Abbott’s audit, despite the governor ordering regulators to not approve any new grid connections until the audit is completed. The governor has similarly touted their endorsement of his plan. view article

The People of La Junta for Preservation, a nonprofit founded in 2024 that works to preserve Indigenous sites, and two Indigenous worshippers of Lipan Apache lineage are suing the federal government to stop the highly contentious border barrier construction and surveying activities in Big Bend, the Texas Observer has learned. The plaintiffs argue that ongoing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) construction and surveying activities in Big Bend National Park and across far West Texas have cut them off both from specific sacred sites and ecosystems fundamental to their spiritual practices in violation of Religious Freedom Restoration Act and American Indian Religious Freedom Act protections. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, not only seeks an immediate halt to construction activity in Big Bend National Park but across CBP’s Big Bend Sector. view article

As students across Texas begin their second year under a statewide ban on student cell phones during school hours, Lubbock Independent School District officials say the local impact has been overwhelmingly positive. Lubbock ISD Superintendent Dr. Kathy Rollo says the policy has dramatically changed the atmosphere on high school campuses. “It is really neat when you walk into a high school campus now,” Rollo said. “In the past, before last year, kids would be on their phones in the hallways during passing periods, during lunch, and unfortunately sometimes even during class time. And now what you see is they don’t have their hoodies on and they’re looking and talking with each other. And it’s really a nice thing to see.” view article

A commission of community members, academics and industry experts is set to research and evaluate Fort Worth’s data center developments, then give city leaders recommendations on how to regulate them.   The Data Center & Infrastructure Commission was formed Tuesday to conduct a “comprehensive, fact-based evaluation,” focusing on data centers’ impact on electricity and energy, water and economic development. The commission will also consider setback, noise, lighting and other development standards based on community concerns around data centers to ensure they aren’t concentrated in historically industrialized or underserved neighborhoods.    The commission is charged with delivering a report of recommendations to the council at their Nov. 3 work session.    Michael Slattery, an environmental professor at Texas Christian University and director of its Institute for Environmental Studies, is the chairman of the commission and will choose its 11 members.  view article

The president’s comments to Punchbowl News come just days after Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide pause of approval for data centers trying to connect to the power grid.  President Donald Trump this week criticized Texas for being anti-data centers, just days after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott paused industry-wide approvals until the companies provide the state with more information on things like power and water use.  “I saw Texas the other day sort of is against data centers,” Trump said in a nearly hourlong sit-down interview with Punchbowl News released Friday. “I think it’s a mistake. And I’m not taking positions, I just think it’s a mistake, because there are other communities that want it. When a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come into that community.” view article

The Lubbock Independent School District Board of Trustees has approved a memorandum of understanding with Texas Tech University to create Lubbock ISD Virtual Education, known as LIVE, a tuition-free online education program for eligible students. view article

Floodwater is raising reservoir levels, but the city remains under drought restrictions.  Floodwater from recent heavy rains has delayed Corpus Christi’s projected Level 1 Water Emergency by another year, pushing the estimated date from September 2027 to September 2028 as reservoir levels continue to recover. Corpus Christi had been projected to become the first major U.S. city to face a shortage of water if drought conditions persisted.   The rainfall “gives us time to bring on our water supply projects without the stress of heading into a Level 1 water emergency,” City Manager Peter Zanoni said at a media briefing Monday. The city remains under Stage 3 drought restrictions, which prohibit irrigation. If the combined water supply rises from the current 26 percent to above 30 percent, officials expect to move to Stage 2 restrictions, allowing residents to water their yards once every other week. Choke Canyon Reservoir has climbed to 24 percent capacity, compared with 7 percent three months ago and 13 percent one year ago. Lake Corpus Christi has not seen recent increases, currently sitting at 32 percent, but the level is expected to rise in the coming weeks as floodwater inflows start arriving.  view article

Conroe ISD parent and volunteer Ryan Tsamouris has launched a monitoring app to help other parents get the information they need, from a list of challenged or banned library books to board meetings. Tsamouris, who has a background in information technology and is eyeing a spot on the board of trustees, went live with the CISD Library Books Tracker in May. Since then, he has expanded it to include board meeting summaries, student performance, district finances and policies. Navigating the district's information on its website, he said, can be difficult. view article

At the July Katy ISD Board Work Study meeting unveiled a comprehensive vision that addressed how Katy ISD will find a balance with technology and AI in classrooms and teacher lessons. view article

Texas power grid operators are preparing for record-breaking demand this week, due to a heat wave that is driving up energy use in the Houston area and across the state  The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said Wednesday the grid is currently operating under normal conditions.  "ERCOT continues a reliability-first approach to grid operations and will continue to operate the grid conservatively, bringing generating resources online early to mitigate sudden changes in generation or demand," spokesperson Trudi Webster said in a statement. view article

Here’s some basic arithmetic for you: The proposed school voucher bill approved tonight in the Texas Senate is cruel in at least five fundamental ways. First, it stacks the deck against public education, the bedrock of our democratic society. This has been the goal of Gov. Greg Abbott and his billionaire backers all along. They seek to undermine public education by starving it of funding. view article

Killeen ISD looks to enhance student safety by introducing a SMART Tag bus safety system, beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The system provides families with real-time transportation updates in addition to tracking data on district buses. Students will scan their school ID badges when boarding and exiting the bus, allowing transportation staff to verify when they get on and off, help ensure students are on the correct bus and provide parents and guardians with real-time updates through the SMART Tag Parent App, Killeen ISD said. view article

Judge Bryan Bufkin ruled against developers’ claims that their project is automatically approved after the county waited longer than 30 days to approve or reject the concept plans. view article

Richardson schools are moving forward with a new plan to cut down on "passive screen time" in classrooms.   Schools will no longer offer programs like free time on iPads as an incentive, and will offer more physical books and assignments to students.   The change comes as district parents expressed concerns about how students' overreliance on technology could cause concentration and communication issues. view article

TYLER, Texas (KETK) — Two Tyler Legacy High school students earned eighth place in music production at the National Technology Student Association 2026 Conference last month.  Picture of Thang and Saad courtesy of Tyler ISD   Thang Hoang and Saad Ali placed eight in the state for an original music piece they composed inspired by America’s 250 year anniversary. The piece was created to play as the opening number for a Fourth of July fireworks show. view article

Robstown ISD is bringing educators together for Tech Connect 2026, a day focused on technology, creativity and future-ready classrooms. view article

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The pandemic accelerated how much we all depend on internet access to carry out daily activities. The latest data shows more than 2 million Texas households do not have high speed internet, disproportionately affecting those in rural areas. “What has been revealed by COVID is the fact that many of our students in the city do not have equal access to broadband,” said Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson. However, this is not something that can be fixed overnight. view article

Ahead of the spring semester, Spring ISD officials have announced that changes will be implemented in hopes of improving remote and in-person instruction for teachers and students. In a presentation at the Dec. 8 board meeting, Lupita Hinojosa, chief officer of school leadership and student support services, announced that not all teachers will have to teach online and in-person students concurrently in the spring semester, as is currently the case. view article

Cleveland and Liberty ISDs became the latest school districts on the outskirts of the greater Houston area to cancel their online learning options this week, joining Barbers Hill and Navasota ISDs in requiring the majority of their students to return to campuses. Liberty ISD, which educates 2,266 students about 50 minutes northeast of downtown Houston, told parents at the end of October that remote learning would be offered only to medically fragile students, students who have tested positive for COVID-19, students who are quarantining due to COVID-19 exposure and students whose schools temporarily were closed due to positive tests. view article

The deadline has been extended for Fort Bend Independent School District parents deciding if they want their children to continue virtual learning or head back to the classroom. This comes as a special board meeting scheduled for today was canceled. Ft. Bend ISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said board members wanted to give more parents time to decide. view article