Tagged: Education

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.

Update: UT's Board of Regents is scheduled to meet this morning to consider whether to release investigative records to the Texas Legislature.

Texas lawmakers have been requesting the release of emails and other documents in a public standoff raising tension between the Capitol and the regents. 

UTSA has renamed its student center the "H-E-B University Center" in thanks for the company's extensive contributions to the university's capital campaign.

Last week UTSA announced the receipt of a $5 million gift and the creation of the H-E-B Faculty Research Excellence Fund, which brings H-E-B’s overall support to more than $7 million.

The $5 million was matched by other private gifts to total $10 million for endowed professorships and chairs in all of UTSA’s nine colleges. It is the largest private challenge gift in UTSA history.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, testified in favor of Sen. Dan Patrick's bill that provides students with tax credits or vouchers to attend a private school.

"We have parents who are committed to their child’s education and want to get them out of poor performing schools," DiNardo said. "How could any of us look these parents in the eye and say that their children should be denied an opportunity for a better future simply because the system we have now, which in many cases is failed, is the only option we are going to allow them."