The Texas House of Representatives’ Public Education Committee unanimously signed off on the chamber’s education package Tuesday, but not before stripping a Dallas ISD-supported provision that would have allowed school districts to give teachers raises based on student performance. Teachers unions have lobbied hard against the merit-pay portion of the proposed…
With just 15 weeks of development time, limited personnel and only the vaguest sense of an idea, the cohort of SMU Guildhall students known as Think Arcade weren’t planning on much past hitting deadlines. They certainly didn’t expect to create a video game, FrostRunner, that would set university records and…
We don’t even yet know how much of it is true, but the $25 million college admissions bribery scandal described in a federal indictment in Massachusetts last week has already ignited a firestorm of blame-laying, which should fill my heart with joy. The blame game, after all, is my personal…
Texas House Democrats want full-day pre-kindergarten for every public school student in the state, raises for all school personnel and property tax cuts for Texas homeowners as part of their school finance reform package, they announced Thursday in Austin. The proposals would come at a big cost, some $16.2 billion…
Frequently, when we write about Dallas’ lack of affordable apartments, stagnating median wage or unattainable mortgages, we’re talking about those costs in reference to Dallas’ quickest growing demographic — millennials. They’re the generational cohort, roughly ages 23 to 38, that can’t afford their student loans, can’t buy a house and…
I liked the previous session of the Texas Legislature a lot better. The Republicans concentrated on what I consider to be their innate concerns – dehumanizing women, disenfranchising minorities and putting Big Brother in the bathroom. I didn’t like what they did, but I did like that they wanted to…
Black and Hispanic students in Dallas public schools are more likely to get harsher discipline, lower grades and fewer opportunities than their white peers, according to a report from ProPublica. The report, which uses numbers mostly taken from data reported by schools to the U.S. Department of Education, shows that…
A Texas speech pathologist is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Pflugerville Independent School District over a Texas law that requires contractors and businesses to sign a pledge promising not to boycott Israel. For nine years, plaintiff Bahia Amawi signed an annual contract with Pflugerville ISD without an…
The 2019 Texas Legislature must act on behalf of children in the state, or risk that they will fall further behind their peers in the rest of the United States, according to a new report from Austin’s Center for Public Policy Priorities. The report also emphasizes the need for an…
Do you remember when it was fun to sit up election night watching the returns roll in? At our house we used to make popcorn. Now it’s like watching a dress rehearsal for the end times. We eat chocolate candy that’s really bad for us because why not? In fact,…
Well, I never. I never thought it would come to this, but I guess I might have to let the Dallas Citizens Council make me a member. After that, I might even have to join the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce. But let me promise you something right here. I…
Local and national organizations are teaming up to fight a portion of a proposed social studies standard before the Texas State Board of Education that opponents say is biased toward Israel and anti-Muslim. The 17 groups, which include Muslim, Jewish and Christian organizations, are particularly campaigning against this line: “Explain…
In some areas of Dallas, student loan debt burdens are 12 percent higher than the national average, according to new data from Generation Progress and Higher Ed, Not Debt. The data show that nationally, students typically put 6 percent of their paycheck toward student loans but in Dallas, many areas…
Dallas is a prosperous, forward-thinking place. It is, the tired catchphrase goes, a “world class city.” “Big Things Happen Here” is the city’s brand. Dallas is also where: More than 115,000 children live in poverty, among the worst rates of any large U.S. city. The median income is the lowest…
In Animal House, John Belushi’s “Bluto” and his fraternity brothers shoot a horse, throw a toga party, commence a food fight, molest an unconscious girl and get placed on double secret probation. In Old School, Will Ferrell’s “Frank the Tank” and his frat boys go streaking, tie cinder blocks to…
In 2010, the Texas State Board of Education voted to change history. Now, students, teachers and activists are trying to fix it. The board held a hearing Tuesday and a first reading of proposed revisions to the social studies curriculum standard on Wednesday, but the night ended in the board…
Everybody always says the schools should be the No. 1 issue in the city. I wonder how we’ll take it when that idea suddenly comes true? Maybe well, maybe not very well at all. Gov. Greg Abbott has been giving off strong signals in recent weeks that he thinks the…
Practice forgetfulness. Forget about the bitterness over the new statewide grading system for schools and school districts. Forget the whole debate over school reform in Dallas. For two seconds, do the good kind of forgetfulness. Now ponder this: The overwhelming objective evidence is that the Dallas public school system has…
The Observer asked Dr. Stephen F. Waddell, an experienced educator and leader in school innovation, for his take on Texas’ controversial new A-F grading system for public schools. See a longer bio and partial list of his bona fides at the end of his essay. This month school districts across…
Gov. Greg Abbott and Dallas School board member Miguel Solis held dueling press conferences Tuesday at public school campuses barely a mile apart in East Dallas, Abbott calling for higher pay for teachers and Solis asking where the money is. Unspoken was a startling new theme shared by both sides:…
Just before the end of the school year in June, the students who run Prosper High School’s award-winning student newspaper Eagle News Online found themselves wondering if they could still run a newspaper worthy of the national awards they’ve racked up over the last few years. Prosper High School principal…
Almost every school and every school district in Texas got a report card Wednesday, spelling out for parents, students and anyone else paying attention how the Texas Education Agency believes the institutions it oversees are performing. The new, Legislature-approved measures are easy to read and make it easier to compare…
