All articles tagged with #texas schools
The Texas Education Agency has released the 2025 A-F Accountability Ratings for public schools, along with the delayed 2024 ratings, showing improvements in many districts and campuses, and emphasizing transparency and accountability in education.
In 2025, Texas lawmakers passed significant education legislation including a large private school voucher program, increased public school funding, teacher pay raises, and measures to regulate student discipline, religious activities, and parental control, while failing to eliminate the STAAR standardized test.
Texas school districts asked voters to approve nearly $18 billion in new debt for infrastructure projects, and the majority of proposals passed in the November 2021 election. At least 50% of the bond measures were approved, with some failed proposals including new athletic facilities and school buildings. The approval rate is a turnaround from two years ago when more school bonds failed than passed. The election took place amidst political infighting over public school funding and a state law requiring bond elections to be labeled as "tax increases."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law mandating all public schools to have at least one armed security officer or armed school personnel at each public school campus statewide. The law will also allot $330 million to build security centers on campuses, mandate annual audits of school protocol, and require staff members to get mental health training. Some people believe adding armed personnel to campuses would increase protection, while others disagree and worry about the burden of funding an additional salary falling on schools and local taxpayers.
The Texas House has given preliminary approval to a school finance bill that would increase the amount of state money that schools get per student, start adjusting it for inflation, and introduce a major change to how funding is calculated each year. The bill would raise the basic allotment, which is the minimum money that schools get per student, and would be the first bill to increase the amount of money districts receive to raise teacher pay and cover the actual costs of educating students. The bill also updates the base amount of money that teachers should make depending on their experience.