Category Archives: School days

HISD Trustee Mike Lunceford to resign

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This came as a surprise. Mike Lunceford — who has represented Bellaire on the Houston ISD Board of Education for seven years — made a surprise announcement at Thursday night’s board meeting that he is resigning, effective immediately. He had … Continue reading →

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KHSPVA

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

That will be the new acronym for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After impassioned debate, the Houston school board voted 7-2 Thursday to accept a $7.5 million gift for the district’s renowned arts high school and … Continue reading →

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Feds intervene in Texas special education mess

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The federal government on Monday ordered Texas state officials to eliminate an 8.5 percent benchmark on special education enrollment enforced in the state’s 1,200 school districts unless they can show that it had not kept children with disabilities from … Continue reading →

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Superintendents begin speaking out against special education limits

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. The leaders of two of the state’s biggest school districts are calling on the Texas Education Agency to stop penalizing districts for giving specialized education to more kids than the agency has deemed prudent. Superintendents Michael Hinojosa … Continue reading →

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School district to join lawsuit over STAAR test

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. Ben Becker, the Houston father who helped organize a legal fight over last year’s STAAR exams, has repeatedly challenged superintendents over the last few months to join him in court to fight for their students. Becker describes his group … Continue reading →

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TEA will review special ed limits

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a start. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said Wednesday that his office is reviewing a monitoring system that sets an 8.5 percent benchmark for special education enrollments and strictly audits school districts with enrollments that exceed that rate for … Continue reading →

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Some officials take note of special education funding restrictions

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a start. The vice chairman of the State Board of Education, a Houston school board member, a key state senator and scores of parents and disability advocates all expressed strong opposition on Monday to a Texas Education Agency performance-based … Continue reading →

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Publisher of crappy Mexican American Studies textbook defends said textbook

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not that crappy, she swears. The publisher of a proposed Mexican-American studies textbook that scholars, elected officials and Hispanic activists have decried as racist and inaccurate is defending the high school text ahead of a public hearing on the … Continue reading →

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“Denied”

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This is worth your time to read. During the first week of school at Shadow Forest Elementary, a frail kindergartner named Roanin Walker had a meltdown at recess. Overwhelmed by the shrieking and giggling, he hid by the swings and … Continue reading →

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The recapture blues

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What are you gonna do? At least once a year, an official from a property-wealthy Texas school calls Christy Rome and tells her they’re just not going to do it. They don’t want to send a big chunk of their … Continue reading →

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No injunction against HISD school name changes

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The changes can remain, at least for now. A civil court judge has declined to stop the Houston school district from changing the names of eight campuses that were named after Confederate loyalists. Judge John Wooldridge this week denied a … Continue reading →

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Superintendent Carranza on bathroom access

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This is what I like to see and hear. The new HISD superintendent, Richard Carranza, did not discuss specifics but certainly signaled an open-minded approach to the issue of which restrooms students should be allowed to use. “I think, you … Continue reading →

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Strange HISD referendum to be on the ballot

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This will be weird. Because of the state’s byzantine financing system, HISD will have to either send almost $162 million in local taxpayers’ money to the state or stand by to see some of the district’s most valuable properties assigned … Continue reading →

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School finance can always get worse

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Now here’s a brilliant, why-didn’t-we-think-of-that-before idea: Give schools less money as incentive to do better. Depending on whose measure you’re using, Texas is somewhere between 38th and 49th in the nation when it comes to per-student funding. Instead of wallowing … Continue reading →

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Meet the latest education scam

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Free money! What could possibly go wrong? An ambitious new player has emerged in the controversial effort to use taxpayer dollars to help Texas parents send their kids to private or religious schools. Texans for Education Opportunity, which launched in … Continue reading →

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We have a superintendent

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Welcome to Houston. The San Francisco public schools superintendent won over a divided Houston school board with what members described as his devotion to equity for all students, passion for the arts and willingness to collaborate. The trustees, often split … Continue reading →

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Fort Worth updates its transgender bathroom policy

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone declares victory. The new guidelines, condensed to two pages, affirm transgender students’ right to accommodations but eliminate a portion of the April guidelines that told schools not to out transgender students to their parents out of concern for their … Continue reading →

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In which we find another way to suck at textbooks

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, good Lord. If the State Board of Education approves a proposed Mexican-American studies textbook this fall, Texas students could learn that the Aztecs waged war because of “bloodlust,” 19th-century Mexican industrial laborers often drank on the job and slavery … Continue reading →

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Abbott pre-K plan falls short

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Well, duh. In Texas, where pre-K is scorned by some conservative activists as “godless,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s major education initiative is giving classrooms far less money than many once thought, causing even the district of the governor’s high school … Continue reading →

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La Marque ISD lawsuit tossed

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The end of the line for La Marque ISD. A Texas appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt the annexation of the La Marque school district by Texas City ISD. The 3rd Texas Court of Appeals on Friday … Continue reading →

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TAB says it wants better pre-K in Texas

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. The Texas Association of Business wants the state to offer a full school day of taxpayer-funded pre-K and plans to push lawmakers in that direction next year, the group announced this week. … Continue reading →

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STAAR screwups

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the Observer: Texas’ standardized testing program wasn’t exactly popular before the 2015-2016 school year, but this year’s State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) has been an especially frustrating experience for Texas students, parents and school officials. New … Continue reading →

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On big money high school stadiums

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Monthly is against ’em. As a part of a $220 million bond package, McKinney ISD is adding an opulent events center and 12,000-seat high school football stadium that will cost a total of $62.8 million. According to the Dallas … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over STAAR exams

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. A backlash against this year’s STAAR exams escalated Monday when a group of parents sued the state in an attempt to keep schools from using 2016 test scores to rate students — including deciding whether students should advance to … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks the feds if they’re sure about that bathroom thing

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Just checking, I’m sure. Will public schools really lose federal education funding if they refuse to comply with a new Obama administration directive regarding transgender students? That’s the basic query posed by top lawyers from Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia … Continue reading →

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TEA Commissioner has no opinion yet on federal transgender bathroom directive

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Tuesday praised the state Supreme Court’s recent opinion upholding the state’s public school funding system and demurred on questions about bathroom use by transgender students. “Last time I checked, it … Continue reading →

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HISD finishes renaming schools

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From last week: Eight names that have adorned Houston school buildings, uniforms and yearbooks for decades will vanish next year after trustees came together Thursday to approve new ones without Confederate ties. The renaming decisions followed months of controversy that … Continue reading →

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Federal action on schools accommodating transgender bathroom use

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Glad to see this. The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. A letter to school districts … Continue reading →

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Dan Patrick is obsessed with children’s bathrooms

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This guy, I swear. Transgender advocates derided Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday for what they described as his “fake outrage” over the Fort Worth school district’s new transgender bathroom guidelines, calling the Republican a shameless bully. “A bully like … Continue reading →

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First look at how HISD will balance its budget

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Seems to be fairly well-received. The Houston school district’s interim superintendent on Thursday rescinded his proposal to reduce funding for gifted students amid concerns from parents and board members. At the same time, Ken Huewitt proposed bolstering the budgets of … Continue reading →

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Lawsuits filed over teacher evaluations

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. A statewide teachers group filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an attempt to block the state from implementing a controversial system that for the first time ties assessments of educators to student performance on standardized tests. … Continue reading →

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Alma Allen for HISD Superintendent?

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It could happen. State Rep. Alma Allen, a former school principal, has emerged as a high-profile contender for the HISD superintendent’s job during the early stages of the search. The Houston Democrat, who retired from the Houston Independent School District … Continue reading →

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On teaching kids who don’t speak English

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From The Atlantic: Out of all the cities in Texas, this would seemingly have been the one where schools knew how to help Spanish-speaking students learn. El Paso is progressive and welcoming, and is more than 80 percent Latino. Its … Continue reading →

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Irving ISD sues AG’s office over Ahmed Mohamed

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, brother. Ahmed Mohamed’s former school district has sued the Texas Attorney General — defying an order to reveal details of a federal investigation related to the Muslim teen’s arrest after bringing a homemade clock to school last year. Dozens of Democratic U.S. … Continue reading →

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