Authorities are searching for a suspect after the incident at Northeast Early College High School in Austin

Lawmakers this year didn’t approve extra money to help schools pay for raises despite having an unprecedented $32 billion surplus — even after Gov. Greg Abbott commissioned a task force last year to improve teacher pay and retention.

A former Austin ISD teacher who paid to have sex with Colombian girls has been sentenced to prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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.

Austin ISD is offering free pads and tampons to students starting this school year in an effort to make menstrual products more easily accessible to students.

As the omicron surge dwindles, school district officials move to lift mask mandates.

School officials are putting a greater emphasis on testing, vaccinations and masking to combat the variant’s spread.

As state officials pressure schools on books and coronavirus measures, Stephanie Elizalde says her district will do what’s in students’ “best interests.”

The Texas State Teachers Association is applauding Dallas Independent School District and Austin ISD after announcing they will require masks amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across the state, defying Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates.

The problems are concentrated among students trying to learn from home, more than 3 million of the state’s 5.5 million public school students, according to administrators’ accounts. According to KVUE-TV, about 11,700 Austin ISD students are failing at least one class this year, a 70% increase from last year. San Antonio’s Northside ISD has not changed its expectations for virtual students, despite seeing higher failure rates, said Superintendent Brian Woods. Since many students learning from home are low income, Black and Hispanic, lowering academic standards for those students could end up deepening existing inequities, he said. Bizuayehu has dyslexia and dysgraphia, which impacts his ability to write clearly by hand, and he’s found virtual learning much easier.

Pu Ying Huang for The Texas TribuneTeachers like Jennifer Boyer have become the rope in a political tug of war over reopening Texas schools. Black and Hispanic Texans, who are disproportionately susceptible to the virus, were more likely than white Texans to say in-person instruction was unsafe. Student and teacher safety is number one.When Texas unveiled its final plan for reopening schools this fall, the Texas Pediatric Society praised Gov. Across the state, local health authorities and teachers are refusing to comply with the states orders, arguing its not safe to go back as cases rise. By Thursday, Laredos local health authority mandated local schools close their buildings until cases subside.