Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, got another win for open-enrollment charters schools and vouchers on Thursday as the bill, which would raise the number of charter schools to 215 by 2014, got little to no opposition, and even got some help from across the aisle.
The bill also calls for that number to be raised to 331 by 2019.
A senate hearing at the capitol dials down the accountability standard for state dropout recovery schools under a bill authored by Sen. Leticia Van DePutte.
If the bill passes, dropout recovery schools would not face the same accountability standard as any other public school in the state.
The head of the Senate Education Committee says 100,000 Texas families are on waiting lists for charter schools, and it's time to expand the number of charters and provide more funding.
Governor Rick Perry addressed the State Board of Education on Friday, urging the education leaders to expand technical classes and charter schools.
During his State-of-the-State address earlier in the week, Perry trumpeted evidence of improvements in public education and did so again when speaking to the State Board of Education.
