INSIDER
Truancy remains a significant challenge in Texas, with around one million children reported truant each year. Recent investigations by KPRC 2 have shed light on the state's efforts—or lack thereof—in addressing this pressing issue.
With approximately 1 million students reported truant each year over the last four school years, concerns are rising about the effectiveness of truancy prevention measures.
Houston ISD has reported zero truancy prevention measures to the Texas Education Agency over the past four years, despite thousands of students being marked truant each year.
KPRC 2 has obtained a new list from the Texas Education Agency that contains the names of 60 new Texas educators who are currently under investigation in a teacher-certification cheating scheme that allowed unqualified teachers to work in local school districts.
Gov. Greg Abbott said cutting taxes is a top priority, however, state lawmakers don’t have as much money to plug into tax cuts as they did two years ago.
More than two dozen Texas Democrats expressed concern about the elimination of a federal policy preventing immigration arrests at schools.
The Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office has confirmed the identity of a now-former Katy ISD teacher accused of grabbing a student with autism by the collar.
ASK MIKE MILES: Superintendent Mike Miles will be LIVE at the KPRC 2 studio during our 4 p.m. broadcast. Let us know if you have any questions you'd like us to ask him.
The Texas Education Agency is investigating Katy Independent School District educator for possible assault against a child with autism.
The alleged scheme, reportedly worth over a million dollars, involved falsifying credentials to secure teaching positions for individuals who did not meet certification requirements, according to the district attorney’s office.
A growing teacher certification scandal continues to shake the Texas education system. Nearly 40 educators reportedly worked in Houston-area school districts.
KPRC 2 has obtained the Texas Education Agency’s list that contains the names of Houston-area teachers who are currently under investigation in a teacher-certification cheating scheme that allowed unqualified teachers to work in local school districts.
As investigations continue, HISD has promised immediate termination of any fraudulently certified teachers.
Houston ISD has started the school year with over 800 uncertified teachers, sparking a conversation about the effectiveness and legitimacy of uncertified educators in our schools.
Dozens of questions remain unanswered over a Houston-based cheating scandal involving hundreds of unqualified teachers getting certified; one of them is what policies were put in place? And what was ignored?
The Texas Education Agency found that checks mailed to Miles’ charter school network in Colorado were eventually deposited into the network’s Texas account.
Dozens of districts sued Texas saying the ratings painted an unfair picture of their schools. Others voluntarily have released their own.
The superintendents said they haven’t received enough support from the state or time to fix errors the system generated.
The Texas Education Agency says there’s time to fix problems before officially reported data is used to determine how much money districts get.
The press conference at 2 p.m. Monday will examine how Houston ISD has seen dramatic progress in its campuses' accountability ratings.
As students and teachers embark on the journey that is the 2024-2025 school year, many schools will be working to improve their accountability ratings and those already on a strong slope, will aim to keep their momentum. However, many may be wondering exactly what the accountability rating exactly is and how it’s measured.
A Klein ISD parent filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency regarding perceived slights by the district against his stepson, with special needs, and other students in the adult program.
Students’ scores in a test that gauges their English skills have been low since a redesign introduced computer scoring.
The ruling marks the fifth consecutive year Texas families have not received a full picture of their schools’ ratings, which are used to determine how they are performing.
Many students and teachers in HISD are beginning the school year with a brand new curriculum under the New Education System with their daily routines overhauled, requiring them to adapt to a new learning approach.
“Teachers are being bullied into submission, bullied out of their careers,” one HISD student said. ”The new curriculum is horrible. I’m stressed out. I’m tired. Everything is gloomy, and the atmosphere is just anxiety and stress.”
Some secular groups and members of other faiths say the curriculum could give schools too much control over how children are taught religion.
The proposal comes as part of a larger effort by officials in Texas and across the country to inject Christianity into public life.
Fort Bend ISD says they have been informed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that they are under investigation.
"While we continue to see progress in other areas - which is a testament to the dedication and skill of our Texas educators - it’s clear that math performance is not where students need it to be for success after graduation,” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said.
Do you have questions for Superintendent Miles about the STAAR exam results or HISD’s educational initiatives? Submit your questions! Our Candace Burns will sit down with him Tuesday afternoon and your questions could be featured!
Test results showed a steady performance compared to previous years, but showed slight declines in meeting grade-level percentages for U.S. History.
Former Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams is celebrating preliminary results Houston ISD’s superintendent shared with the public Wednesday.
Proposed lesson plans could improve student performance and help teachers, Texas education officials say. Not all district leaders and education advocates are convinced.
A state lawmaker and Houston residents urge the Texas Education Agency to investigate whether the state-appointed superintendent improperly sent public funds to out-of-state charter schools.
As part of the Houston Independent School District's NES model, teachers are evaluated daily on their performance. We looked at this practice during our visit to Fleming Middle School to see if it was working. Here's what we discovered:
A state-appointed board of managers overseeing the La Joya Independent School District is set to consider the policy this week.
The state will save more than $15 million by using technology similar to ChatGPT to give initial scores, reducing the number of human graders needed. The decision caught some educators by surprise.
Sean Tellez said becoming the principal at Houston ISD’s Love Elementary School in the Heights was a dream come true.
The state had been investigating IDEA Public Schools since 2021 and raised questions on its spending on things like a luxury driver and private jet.
Spring Branch ISD Board President Chris Earnest sharpened criticism against his State Senator, Paul Bettencourt. Tuesday night (Feb. 27, 2024) Bettencourt posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) sharing a recent opinion piece from the district’s former superintendent questioning the district’s recent funding shortfall.
The transition at the Waco-area school district will shed light on how a democratically elected school board resumes control after a takeover.
Policy experts worry students will fall short of the state's future workforce needs. Educators hope the new curriculum will help them.
The TEA appointed a “board of managers” to replace the district’s school board trustees and named a new superintendent.
Dozens of school districts sued the Texas Education Agency last fall, claiming revisions to the state’s accountability system would hurt them.
Public schools got little help from lawmakers this year to address the state’s chronic teacher shortage, so they’ve turned to other creative solutions — like leaning on cultural exchange programs to recruit international teachers.
The second of a series of meetings discussing the changes at the Houston Independent School District will be underway this afternoon.
The expansion, which will start with a smaller pilot in four high schools between Texas and New Mexico, is being paid for by the Permian Strategic Partnership, a group funded by major energy producers.
KPRC 2 Investigates has been researching why a law meant to better safeguard children walking home from school has never been used.
The ruling comes after dozens of school districts sued the Texas Education Agency, claiming the revised accountability system would hurt their ratings.
Representatives of several school districts have filed a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency following the recent changes to the state public school accountability system.
As tensions have flared in the escalating conflict and protests have spread across Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the Texas Education Agency would provide resources to schools to counter misinformation and antisemitism.
Parents of Texas’ growing population of home-schooled students are split over whether education savings accounts would give them much-needed financial help or represent an unwanted government involvement in their kids’ educations.
The new clinic met resistance from a vocal group of parents who raised concerns the district was overstepping its authority in caring for students.
For one reading class, Superintendent Mike Miles said instruction would focus on English, even if it meant risking state funding for dual-language programs. Parents say it goes further than that, adding that their kids are receiving no assistance in Spanish at all.
Miles said he should be held accountable and be fired if the district doesn’t improve academically in the next two years.
Several members in Houston ISD’s advisory committee received an email Wednesday night thanking them for their time on the voluntary committee and ending their service.
TEA said it needs to make adjustments to account for changes in students’ academic performance after the pandemic. The delay comes after several school districts sued to stop the agency from releasing school rankings produced under a new rating system.
Lawmakers failed to pass legislation on school vouchers or teacher raises this year, but they approved other education-related laws like an $800 million investment in high-quality instructional materials and new rules for students found vaping or using marijuana.
House Bill 900 requires book vendors to rate all their materials based on their depictions or references to sex before selling them to schools. Vendors say the law aims to regulate protected speech with “vague and over broad” terms.
Thousands of families in Houston started the new school year under new leadership after the Texas Education Agency appointed a new superintendent and board of managers to oversee the largest district in Texas.
Several ousted Houston ISD elected board members joined together virtually to speak with the community Tuesday. They say the purpose was to walk people through the proposed policy changes that Superintendent Mike Miles wants the new state-appointed board to approve.
Two Texas bookstores and three national bookseller associations file suit over House Bill 900, which requires private booksellers to rate books on appropriateness, and bans “sexually explicit” material from libraries.
Experts say many of the changes will bolster school safety but some requirements may be challenging for public schools to implement by the upcoming school year with limited funding and staffing constraints.
Some Houston Independent School District employees were calling out the district’s new superintendent, F. Mike Miles, over a delay in receiving their paychecks Wednesday morning.
Mike Miles has wasted no time in restructuring schools and proposing administrative layoffs. The changes are designed to pay teachers at struggling schools more if their students show improvement.
Threat assessment teams were created to prevent the next school shooting. However, confusion surrounds how these teams operate and what they even do with a child exhibiting threatening behavior.
The Texas Education Agency takeover is in full effect. Thursday, a newly appointed HISD Board voted in it’s managers and solidified a contract for the controversial new superintendent.
Lawmakers sacrificed school funding to block school vouchers, but the issue could be debated again in a special session. Districts will get new funds for school safety, though Uvalde families were ultimately left disappointed with inaction on gun restrictions.
The Texas Education Agency announced the appointment of a nine-member Board of Managers for the Houston Independent School District and the selection of a new superintendent Thursday.
The former Dallas ISD superintendent and a state-appointed board of managers will replace Houston’s elected school board in response to years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus in the district.
The Texas Education Agency announced the appointment of the nine-member Board of Managers for the Houston Independent School District and the selection of a new superintendent Thursday.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Friday that Millard House will serve his last day as superintendent at Houston Independent School District following the Texas Education Agency takeover.
Both chambers have said school safety is a priority this session after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school last year.
The Texas Education Agency has responded after a tweet made by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner suggested that the agency had selected a superintendent for Houston ISD.
The Texas House’s education committee is soon expected to discuss the new version of Senate Bill 8, which was heavily modified to sway votes in the lower chamber.
The TEA accepted applications for managers for HISD until April 6. Hundreds of Houstonians applied. Of those, fewer than half completed a governance training required to move forward in the application process, the agency confirmed.
A bill passed by the Texas House on Wednesday would also help schools rehire retired teachers and offer other incentives in an effort to fight the state’s teacher shortage.
Lawmakers have said school safety is a priority this session, but it is still unclear whether they’ll listen to Uvalde families who want to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.
After hundreds of submissions, the Texas Education Agency has closed its application window to decide who will oversee the Houston Independent School District.
Officials from the Texas Education Agency are holding a meeting on Thursday to discuss the takeover of the Houston Independent School District.
At one elementary school, protesters chanted as the school day was about to begin. Parents sought petition signatures at a high school. The demonstrations are planned throughout the day.
The coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the ACLU, the Houston NAACP among others stating the takeover is potential voting rights violation.
The TEA recommended the move, citing the district’s failures serving special education students. The announcement comes two weeks after the agency appointed a board of managers to oversee Houston ISD.
