Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to formally announce a definitive plan for reopening Texas schools safely, but two actions Tuesday effectively force districts to have students back in classrooms after eight weeks of the school year’s start.
Aliyya Swaby
Aliyya Swaby was the public education reporter for The Texas Tribune, where she worked from 2016 to 2021. Previously she worked at the hyperlocal nonprofit New Haven Independent, where she covered education, zoning and transit for two years. After graduating from Yale University in 2013, she spent a year freelance reporting in Panama on social issues affecting black Panamanian communities. She was an Education Writers Association finalist in 2017 for beat reporting and a Livingston Awards finalist in 2019 for a series on school desegregation.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas attorney general says local health authorities cannot “indiscriminately” shut down schools
After Paxton’s guidance, the Texas Education Agency reversed course and announced that the state won’t fund schools that remain closed under a local public health mandate.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas fifth and eighth graders won’t have to pass STAAR test to move on to the next grade
Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that Texas students must take the state standardized test next spring, but fifth and eighth graders can graduate without passing it.
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Coronavirus in Texas
As school reopenings falter, some Texas parents hire private teachers. Others can only afford to cross their fingers.
With the safe reopening of schools this fall in doubt, parents with the resources are setting up “learning pods” or seeking other options. But the do-it-yourself approach to education threatens to leave behind students of color and poorer families.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Harris County officials recommend, not mandate, that school districts stay closed to in-person instruction until October
On Tuesday, Tarrant County joined the list of other officials, including those in Dallas, who are mandating delayed school reopening.
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Reopening Texas Schools
Texas will allow schools to keep classrooms closed longer than previously ordered
Facing backlash from educators, parents and public health officials, the Texas Education Agency is giving schools more time before they must resume teaching students in person and allowing districts hard hit by the coronavirus to seek waivers.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas officials scramble to provide school reopening guidelines with only weeks of summer left
Conflicting mandates pingponging between state and local officials are frustrating many parents, students and teachers trying to plan for a fall semester during a raging pandemic.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas classrooms can stay closed this fall without losing state funding if local health officials order it
School districts won’t lose state funding if they stick with virtual classes this fall because a local health authority has mandated that classrooms remain closed.
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Texas 2020 Elections
Lani Popp defeats Robert Morrow in Texas State Board of Education runoff
Republican leaders had rallied against Morrow, who is known for his jester’s hat and his history of racist and sexist comments.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas will extend time that schools will be allowed to stay online-only, Gov. Greg Abbott says
Schools had previously been told that they would need to limit online-only instruction to the first three weeks of the school year, or they’d lose state funding.