Tagged: Education

A Texas comptroller report has spurned lawmakers to approve a measure that will provide about $6 billion for roads, water and education.  

In the report, Comptroller Susan Combs said the last bienum revealed a higher than expected rise in property tax revenues, which the state could use to help fund school districts.

Following the passage of House Bill 5 out of the Senate Committee on Education, Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, the chairman of the committee, chided the businesses and media outlets who have alleged that lowering the number of state-mandated end-of-course exams would dumb-down public school curriculum.

Patrick said nothing could be further from the truth.

In the first segment: 

San Antonio state Rep. Mike Villarreal is the author of a bill being considered to reduce the number of standardized tests. Also joining us is Jim Windham, chairman of Texas Institute for Education Reform.

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.