Education

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. […]

Arts Education Groups Are Struggling. Austin Is Looking for Ways to Help.

byIsabella McGovern

In late 2023, 19 Austin arts education organizations received a total of $475,000 thanks to the Arts Education Relief Grant, Austin’s first arts education grant program. But gaps in funding for the arts remain, and groups focused on education are looking for new sources for money.

Nahuatl, Indigenous Language of Mexico, Leaves UT Students with Another World View

byMaria Probert

Soft strums from a wooden guitar and the smell of warm tamales and green salsa that flowed together like a warm hug filled the air of Benedict Hall. About 35 students and faculty gathered at the teachers’ lounge at the University of Texas to listen to Crispin Martinez Rosas, who goes by the artistic name […]

Construction Funding, New School Board Bring Changes, Optimism to Austin Public Schools

byKeaton Peters

Travis High School was built in 1953, making it the oldest high school in South Austin, and a broken heating system is hardly the first issue to arise in the aging facilities. The school will soon get a major renovation to fix much more than the heating. The Austin Independent School District is set to receive $252 million to construct a modern facility completely replacing the old Travis High. 
The renovation of Travis High is part of $2.44 billion in bonds that Austin voters approved in November, when they also elected five former teachers to the district’s board of trustees. With the district facing stagnant state funding, a teacher shortage and decreased enrollment, AISD leaders see the election results as setting a new course for Austin public schools. 
“The community said they are willing to pay to improve our schools, but simultaneously they said they want new leadership on the board to guide this money,” said Ken Zarifis, president of Education Austin, the labor union for Austin school employees.

As Teacher Vacancies Mount, Special Education Teachers Struggle to Meet Student Needs

byGabriella Ybarra 

Nearly all states in the U.S. are dealing with teacher shortages in special education. Texas school districts have struggled to fill teacher vacancies for years. The situation worsened during the pandemic.

UT Professors: ‘Anti-Critical Race Theory’ Law Is Attempt to Avoid Historical Truth

byEniola Longe

In a series of interviews with UT professors in March and April, most said the law is an affront to the teaching of historical truth regarding racism.

Gender Gap Among STEM Faculty at UT Proves Difficult to Eradicate

byEniola Longe

At UT-Austin, women make up 45% of the total faculty, but a much smaller percentage in STEM majors. The departments of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, electrical and computer engineering, geosciences, mechanical engineering and physics all have less than 20% female faculty.

Sex Education Often Lacking in Texas Schools

byJennifer Errico

In February of 2016, Elyse’s period was three weeks late. She didn’t think anything of it. In fact, she was grateful she got to skip a month. Three weeks, however, turned into five, which then turned into seven. Growing wary, the 15-year-old confided in her boyfriend at the time. The second he heard the word “late,” it clicked. She was pregnant.”I was a child expecting a child,” Elyse, now a speech-language pathology junior at the University of Texas at Austin, said. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, there literally was no right answer.”

Pandemic’s Impact On Education Reveals Cracks in Public School System

byTaryn Courville

Holly Barajas had enough. It was the end of a pandemic-ridden school year for this first-grade teacher. It, too, marked a final chapter in a two-decade-long career, where the emotional highs of seeing her work’s impact on children were fraught with the frustrations that came with the job. Long hours and low pay. Society’s strong […]

Amid Texas Debate Over Teaching About Racism, ‘Refusing to Forget’ Soldiers On

byAndrew Logan

Since 2014, Refusing to Forget, a Texas-based nonprofit, has worked to increase awareness of racial violence aimed at Latino Texans throughout the early 20th century. Their work comes as the state enacts new guidelines aimed at limiting classroom discussion of systemic racism.

Now, with fierce debate raging over how Texas schools teach about racism, Refusing to Forget’s leadership says its mission is more important than ever. In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law that critics say bans honest discussions of racism.

“Even though we’re in the midst of a battle to tell the real history to our children, it’s important for me to keep fighting, not for this politically correct fiction, but for the truth. History is both pretty and ugly,” said the co-founder of Refusing to Forget.

After COVID Put Students Behind, Central Texas Schools Are Working to Catch Up

byMarina Garcia

Several studies have shown students, especially those from low-income families, fell behind academically during the pandemic.

Central Texas Christian School Enrollment Surges Amid Curriculum, COVID-19 Concerns

byGabriella Ybarra

Enrollment at conservative Christian schools in Central Texas is booming. School administrators attribute the increase to parental anxieties surrounding COVID-19 policies, discussion of systemic racism in the classroom and the inclusion of curriculum with sexual content.