Education

Texas Voucher Rollout Raises Barriers for Students With Disabilities

byIsabel Neumann

When one Austin parent began researching private schools after Texas introduced its new voucher program, the parent expected more options for their child with disabilities. But many schools, including some that specialize in autism, would not accept students with emotional or behavioral needs. “I spent hours searching private and microschools in the Austin area,” the […]

Dallas’ Move to Universal Pre-K Isn’t Being Matched in Austin

byIsabel Neumann

As some Texas school districts expand free pre-kindergarten to all students, Austin families still face limits on who qualifies, highlighting how access to early education depends on far more than demand.  Dallas Independent School District leaders recently approved a plan to eliminate tuition for all pre-K students.  But Austin continues to follow the state’s eligibility-based […]

UT Restructures Liberal Arts College, Targets Gender, Ethnic Studies

byNatalia Rodriguez

The University of Texas at Austin on Thursday announced plans to shutter seven departments in the College of Liberal Arts devoted to ethnicity, gender and international studies and to review curriculum related to those subjects.  
UT President Jim Davis said in a campus-wide email that Mexican-American and Latino Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies will no longer be separate departments but will be consolidated into one school called Social and Cultural Analysis. Likewise, a new School of European and Eurasian Studies is being created from the current departments of  French and Italian, Germanic Studies and Slavic and Eurasian Studies.
The UT consolidation comes two years after it eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a month after Texas A&M University ended its women and gender studies program. Faculty there were told that 200 courses could be affected by a new A&M System policy restricting classroom discussion of race and gender. 

‘It’s a Constant Sacrifice’: DACA Struggle With Loss of In-State Tuition

byErika González and Noemi Castanon

Elizabeth Mazariegos flips through her folder full of school reports, letters of recommendation and college documents, feeling worried. “I never thought I could get this far, and now I feel all my effort is disappearing overnight. It’s like everything I achieved is not enough,” said Mazariegos, a 31-year-old Guatemalan who has lived in the United States for two decades.
For years, the U.S. policy of Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, protected immigrants who came here as children and allowed Mazariegos to study, work and plan a stable future. Now, that path has become more uncertain as both the state and federal governments clamp down on immigrants.
On June 5,  Texas repealed the Texas Dream Act, a law that since 2001 had allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates and to have access scholarships and loans.

Generations of Govalle Families Unite Behind Their Endangered School

byNoemi Castanon

Govalle Elementary School opened its doors to East Austin families in 1931. Now, after 94 years of educating generations of East Austin families and serving as the center of their neighborhood, the school could be closed if its accountability rating does not change by the next academic school year.
The families that have called Govalle home for generations have weathered two threats of closure or major changes in the past decade. This fall, the Austin Independent School District proposed transforming Govalle from a neighborhood school into a Montessori-styled elementary that could draw students from throughout the school district. But community opposition to the plan helped to persuade officials to remove Govalle from a plan to close 10 schools and alter others.

New Graduate Workers Union Fights for Better Pay and Protests the College Compact

byRachel N. Madison

or the past two months, the University of Texas’ newly formed Graduate Workers Union has been advocating for better treatment, pay and rights of graduate student employees. And now it is joining other student groups in opposing a deal with the Trump administration that would transform the university’s governance structure.
“A union is a commitment by workers at a workplace to stand together with each other to be treated the way they deserve to be treated in terms of compensation and working conditions,” said Sociology Ph.D. student and union member Noah DiAntonio.

As a New Texas Law Clamps Down on School Libraries, ‘Librotraficantes’ Fight Back

byIsabel Neumann

Just two months after a new Texas law expanded parents’ power to challenge school library books, authors gathered at the Texas Book Festival’s Banned Book Bash to read from titles that have been banned or challenged, or which might face future restrictions. The festival’s Librotraficantes: Banned Book Bash, held Saturday at Cheer Up Charlies, brought […]

High School Marchers Protest Restrictions on Speech and Academic Freedom: ‘We are Done Being Polite About Our Rights.'”

byA.J. Muonagolu

College and high school students marched to the Texas State Capitol Friday to protest new state laws that they say limit student speech and harm public education.
“To Texas lawmakers, hands off our youth — because we are done being polite about our rights.” high school student Kara Newton yelled through a megaphone to protesters. “We are done being complacent. We want change and we want it now!”

New School Discipline Law Could Lead to Longer Suspensions

byJasmine Wright

Texas schools this fall will be able to extend in-school student suspension indefinitely after the Legislature approved a law aimed at improving school discipline despite criticism that it could heap punishment on students already at risk of being left behind in the education system. Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 6 into law on June […]

Lunches for Texas Students Expected to Suffer After USDA Pulls Plug on Local Food for Schools Program

byMadeline de Figueiredo and Rebecca Butler

The Local Food for Schools initiative was set to distribute $660 million to state agencies in fiscal 2025, aiming to help schools and child care facilities buy locally grown food in 40 states.

Outnumbered Texas Democrats Gear Up to Fight School Vouchers

byJasmine Wright

Texas Democrats say funding for public schools is at risk in the current legislative session because Gov. Greg Abbott’s years-long drive for private school vouchers has its best chance ever of succeeding. Texas Democratic lawmakers lost several key seats during the 2024 election cycle and now face face five months of negotiations with Republican counterparts. […]

Yes, She Did: Houston Educator Funds Scholarship for First-Gen Students

bySarah Gonzales

When Yurisa Garcia comes home from her full-time job as a high school counselor, it’s time to get to work on her other priority: helping students pay for college.
To honor the legacy of her late father, Severo, Garcia took his mantra “sí se puede,” which translates to “yes we can” in English, and created a scholarship to give back to first-generation college students like herself.