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Five public education issues stand out during Texas’ 88th legislative session

Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week for the start of a new legislative session. It will be the first one since the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, and it will be the second regular session since the COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions in education.

Public education advocates have a wish list of issues they’d like the Legislature to prioritize. Topping that list is increasing state funding for public schools to help, among other things, raise teacher salaries after tens of thousands of educators have left their jobs.

Democratic lawmakers, including two from Austin, are seeking a major change to the state’s school finance system which would increase funding for public education. Meanwhile, Republican state leaders, like Gov. Greg Abbott, have voiced support for school choice, which would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to send kids to nonpublic schools.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday the Legislature is heading into the new session with an estimated budget surplus of $32.7 billion.

Teacher retention and recruitment

The teacher shortage in Texas is top of mind for state lawmakers and public education advocates. A poll released last year by the Charles Butt Foundation found 77% of Texas teachers seriously considered leaving the field. That figure was 58% just a few years ago in 2020.

Teachers are not just thinking about leaving the classroom; they’re actually doing it. After the 2021-2022 school year, 42,839 teachers left their jobs, according to data from the Texas Education Agency. That’s up from the previous school year when 33,949 teachers resigned.

“Different teachers quit for different reasons, but we’re finding from talking to our members, the major reasons are economic and a lack of respect from the state leadership,” said Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association .

When it comes to economic issues, Robison pointed to teacher salaries that lag behind the national average and stagnant pensions from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He said that during the last fiscal year, TRS retirees averaged a pension of $2,174 per month and many cannot afford to live on that.

“They have not had a cost of living adjustment in many years,” he said. “So, a cost of living adjustment as well as teacher pay raises and more funding overall for public education will be among our major priorities this year.”

Robison said if lawmakers do not invest in public education or improve salaries as well as retirement benefits, more teachers will continue to leave the field.

A Teacher Vacancy Task Force , which Abbott directed the TEA to launch, is expected to share its recommendations with lawmakers in February. The state agency added more teachers to the task force last spring after facing criticism for only including two.

School finance

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa has witnessed the impact of teacher vacancies firsthand. She said there was not a teacher for her son's fifth grade class at an Austin ISD school, so instead the students were divided up between two other classes that did have teachers.

Hinojosa, who used to be president of the Austin ISD school board, said families all over Texas are having similar experiences. She said one way to stem the tide of teacher departures is to increase state funding for public schools.

To do that, she wants Texas to fund schools based on enrollment. Currently, Texas is one of just six states in the U.S. that funds schools based on attendance. What this means is that if kids miss school, districts lose money. Hinojosa said the attendance-based system is especially hard on districts that need state resources the most.

“Schools with higher poverty levels often have higher absences because of all sorts of issues associated with poverty. Kids in special education often have higher rates of absences,” she said. “So what it ends up doing is punishing those schools that have a higher percentage of kids in poverty, have a higher percentage of kids in special education.”

Hinojosa has filed House Bill 31 to switch Texas to an enrollment-based funding system. She filed a similar bill during the 2021 legislative session that did not make it out of committee.

“Last session I drafted and filed this bill not thinking it would get very far because it was kind of late in the game, and I’m a Democrat and it’s harder for us to pass bills, and it also has a large price tag on it to fully fund our schools,” she said. “But right away I had Republican members come to me and say my superintendent wants me to support this bill.”

Hinojosa said this time around she expects her bill to have more bipartisan support. Other Democrats have also filed bills this session seeking to fund public schools based on enrollment. But Hinojosa said any effort to significantly increase public education funding could face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature.

“Our state leadership has not weighed in with a plan or any public indication to do something to help our schools that are in crisis right now,” she said. “I believe it’s going to take a real push from the public this legislative session.”

The last time the legislature overhauled the school finance system was before the pandemic in 2019 with House Bill 3 . One of the major changes the legislation made was increasing per student funding, known as the basic allotment, from $5,140 to $6,160. Several Democratic lawmakers, including Austin state Rep. Donna Howard, have filed legislation to adjust the basic allotment to reflect inflation.

Dax Gonzalez, with the Texas Association of School Boards, said his group plans to back increases to the basic allotment.

“The basic allotment is really lagging behind where a lot of school leaders think it should be,” he said.

Gov. Abbott signed HB 3 at a Pflugerville ISD elementary school that the district is now considering closing citing insufficient state funding.

School choice

Abbott and fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have expressed support for legislation that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to send their kids to private school. Both have argued that giving families options will not hurt public schools.

“We can support school choice and, at the same time, create the best public education system in America. These issues are not in conflict with each other,” Patrick said in a statement last May.

But public education advocates plan to fight this type of legislation tooth and nail. Gonzalez said school board members throughout the state are against it.

“Any mechanism that diverts public tax dollars to private institutions for the sake of education is not really supported — they’re dead set against it,” he said.

Gonzalez said many school board members think school-choice programs, such as vouchers, undermine the state’s public education system.

“They see the move of public funds away from those public institutions as something that strikes at the core of what a public school is and what public education is here in Texas,” he said. “It is really personal for a lot of school board members.”

Gonzalez added that normally school-choice measures face more opposition in the Texas House than in the Texas Senate, which the lieutenant governor presides over.

School safety

When lawmakers reconvene at the Texas Capitol, it will mark the first legislative session since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Abbott resisted calls for a special session in the aftermath of the mass shooting to raise the age for purchasing an assault-style rifle in Texas. Robison, with the Texas State Teachers Association, said the group will continue to advocate for that change.

“We’ll never really have as much security as we think we could have if the state refuses to enact reasonable gun reform laws,” he said. “And raising the minimum age for buying an assault rifle from 18 to 21 should be a no-brainer for anyone.”

Abbott has argued raising the age for purchasing an assault rifle would be unconstitutional. He did direct the Texas House and Senate to form special committees to make recommendations on school safety, firearm safety, policing training, social media and mental health during the 88th legislative session.

Robison said he wants to see more mental health resources in schools. Gonzalez also said mental health resources are a big priority for school board members. He said when he talked with trustees across the state, the initial focus was on student mental health.

"And not 20 seconds into the conversation they would start talking about, 'Well, we need to include staff too because they're going through a lot of issues right now also,'" he said.

Library book censorship

State lawmakers have already filed a couple of bills that would restrict which materials students can access in school libraries.

One measure , filed by Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson, would require publishers to include specific age ratings for books sold to public schools. Oliverson told ABC-affiliate KTRK that he got the idea for the bill from the TV content-rating system.

"We're talking about a system we use for television, we use for film. People are very familiar with it. It works," he said. "This is not piling books in the corner and setting them on fire. This is not banning all books of a particular subject or relating to a particular group or demographic."

But Texas Library Association Executive Director Shirley Robinson said the legislation is concerning and could have unintended consequences.

“We know that librarians are trained to work with educators, specifically in school libraries, to place books for readers in the libraries so that there’s open access for students to be able to read at their particular reading level, which varies widely,” she said.

A measure that state Rep. Harold Dutton has filed would prohibit school districts from removing materials from the school library catalog. But the Houston Democrat’s bill would let the district, parents and school staff come up with a procedure for creating a restricted access list of library materials that students would need parental consent to get a hold of.

A report from PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression, found 22 Texas school districts banned hundreds of books from school libraries during the last school year. Most bans target books with content on race and racism, abortion and LGBTQ+ issues. Robinson said this type of censorship hurts students who need to see themselves reflected in books and prevents librarians from serving their communities.

“When librarians’ ability to do that is taken away it’s a slap against their profession and their training,” she said.

Texans will see whether these or other education issues gain traction at the Capitol over the next five months. The 88th Texas legislative session get underway Tuesday and is set to end May 29.

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Students at Lorenzo G. Alarcon Elementary School this summer open boxes of school supplies paid for with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds in San Elizario.

The $43 million infusion the Port Arthur Independent School District received in federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds accomplished more than Phyllis Geans could have ever imagined.

The money allowed the district to upgrade antiquated heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Teachers earned retention stipends at a time when many were leaving the profession. Students received new band instruments. An ambitious summer program taught them about photography, robots and skydiving.

“We were excited, really excited, because we started thinking about things that we knew were almost impossible,” said Geans, Port Arthur ISD’s assistant superintendent of operations. “It was unreal.”

Districts like Port Arthur ISD , where roughly 85% of students are economically disadvantaged, received a level of financial support they likely wouldn’t have received otherwise — and they took advantage of it by investing in community health, learning, infrastructure and safety.

But the more than $19 billion Texas schools received in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds over the last four years will expire on Sept. 30, with a few exceptions .

The money will go away at a time when Texas schools are already struggling to keep the lights on. A number of districts are planning to enter the next school year with multimillion-dollar holes in their budgets as inflation has sent costs soaring. The Texas Legislature failed last year to approve a significant boost to the base amount of money every school receives per student — an amount that hasn’t changed since 2019 — as lawmakers fought over whether to fund private education with taxpayer dollars.

School administrators say losing the pandemic relief funds not only threatens the programs they paid for but also highlights how precarious their districts’ situation has become after years of clamoring for more state funding.

“It's not about making up ESSER, because we all knew that was one-time funding,” said La Joya ISD Superintendent Marcey Sorensen. “I just would ask, without getting political whatsoever, that everybody just look in the mirror and say, OK, if we really haven't provided additional funding since 2019, maybe it's time that we just give school districts a little bit more of what they need, knowing that kids have different needs now.”

Congress established the ESSER program in 2020 to help schools address the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Texas, districts experienced significant enrollment declines and the number of burnt-out teachers exiting the profession skyrocketed. Years of educational gains unraveled as kids, parents and teachers struggled with school closures and the hurried transition to online learning.

District leaders say the federal pandemic relief funds helped them address learning disruptions and provide additional academic support for students.

“They helped us ride out the five years of no new funding from the state,” said Ronald Wilson, Hearne ISD’s chief financial officer.

Recent studies show the relief funds helped schools across the country improve test scores . For districts where most students come from low-income households, the funds were particularly meaningful, and not just for academics.

In Port Arthur ISD, where most students are Black and Hispanic and the four-year graduation rate is well below the state average, the Brilliance Academy summer program took students on an indoor skydiving trip , where they learned about wind resistance, speed and velocity. The district created a program that paid high school seniors to provide supplemental classroom instruction to elementary kids. Geans said some of the students who participated in the program later expressed interest in pursuing a career in teaching.

Meanwhile, Paris ISD established income incentives for teachers to mentor students. Hearne ISD hired behavioral specialists and social workers to assist students and their families during the pandemic. San Elizario ISD built spaces for recreational activities like playing the piano and hosted family fitness, literacy and math events.

San Elizario High School received Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds for a state-of-the-art e-sports lab.

“I think we were more successful in growing the whole child, on the part where we're growing young ladies and young men,” said Jerrica Liggins, Paris ISD’s secondary education director and college transition coordinator. “We gave them things that they need to be successful in the next grade level or whether they were graduating and going out into the workforce. We gave them things that helped make them a better person.”

Schools across the country have faced questions about how they’ve spent federal relief funds. District officials who used them for things like hiring more staff for their central offices, purchasing pool passes or renovating sports stadiums have received the harshest criticism .

Texas schools will likely face similar spending questions next year. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick , who presides over the Texas Senate, recently directed that chamber’s education committee to review how public schools spent the massive influx of federal COVID-19 relief money. The review will likely focus on how districts used the funds to improve student outcomes.

Standardized test scores are one of the main ways in which student achievement and growth are measured in the state, and the same is true for how the use of pandemic relief funds has been evaluated in national studies .

In Texas, the pandemic caused a dramatic decline in learning, with reading and math scores hit particularly hard. The effects were even more profound for students who participated in online classes. Math scores have yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

How to hold schools accountable for Texas students’ academic performance has also been a contentious issue in recent years. School districts have fought with the Texas Education Agency over its letter grade accountability system, claiming recent changes would hurt their ratings. School officials have argued that testing scores alone are not enough to measure school systems’ effectiveness.

What ESSER spending evaluations sometimes miss is the extent to which the relief funds helped school districts stay alive, said Amanda Brownson, deputy executive director of the Texas Association of School Business Officials.

The funds “helped them keep the doors open, helped them make sure staff were in classrooms ready to greet kids when they came back; it helped them not … collapse,” Brownson said. “What we don't have is the counterfactual: What shape would school districts be in right now if they had to manage the pandemic and had not had ESSER funding available?”

Elianna Ramirez plays a trombone that the San Elizario High School purchased with federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.

Maintaining the programs Texas schools created with federal relief funds will likely be difficult without them.

A recent survey conducted by the TASBO found that out of 313 school districts across the state, nearly 80% reported deficit budgets or a lack of resources as one of their top challenges. Ninety percent of respondents said they have less than a quarter of pandemic relief funds remaining.

Gov. Greg Abbott has faced sharp criticism from public school advocates for his unwillingness to support standalone legislation to significantly boost school funding.

Since last year, Abbott has pushed for education savings accounts, which would allow families to use tax dollars to pay for their children’s private education and other school-related expenses. Opponents in the Texas House, citing worries that such a program would siphon funds away from public schools, successfully blocked the measure. But it meant public schools wouldn’t get the funding boost they wanted: Abbott had said he would veto any school funding proposal that did not include an education savings accounts program.

The governor has vowed to make a similar push when the Legislature reconvenes next year.

The uncertainty around state funding for public schools has created a situation where school districts are spending more time worrying about their financial sustainability and less about what’s best for students, said Monty Exter, governmental relations director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators.

But for low-income districts, money difficulties are not unfamiliar. And they plan to do what they’ve always done: find ways to provide for students and families with their limited resources.

Some school districts are encouraging their staff to be on the lookout for local grant opportunities. Others are thinking of asking voters to increase the tax revenue going to schools or support school bonds. Few say they are looking to the Legislature for solutions.

”We're taking as much of the funding issues on ourselves and moving forward,” said Hearne ISD Superintendent Adrian Johnson, adding that he is still hopeful that legislators will do more to fund public schools.

“But we're not waiting on that to happen,” he said.

Disclosure: Association of Texas Professional Educators and Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here .

The full program is now LIVE for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival , happening Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations on topics covering education, the economy, Texas and national politics, criminal justice, the border, the 2024 elections and so much more. See the full program.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/07/texas-schools-covid-19-pandemic-esser/ .

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The Carroll ISD Administration Building in Southlake, TX, seen on Oct. 27, 2021.

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Texas schools got billions in federal pandemic relief, but it is coming to an end as classes begin

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The $43 million infusion the Port Arthur Independent School District received in federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds accomplished more than Phyllis Geans could have ever imagined.

But the more than $19 billion Texas schools received in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds over the last four years will expire on Sept. 30, with a few exceptions .

“It’s not about making up ESSER, because we all knew that was one-time funding,” said La Joya ISD Superintendent Marcey Sorensen. “I just would ask, without getting political whatsoever, that everybody just look in the mirror and say, OK, if we really haven’t provided additional funding since 2019, maybe it’s time that we just give school districts a little bit more of what they need, knowing that kids have different needs now.”

District leaders say the federal pandemic relief funds helped them address learning disruptions and provide additional academic support for students.

“They helped us ride out the five years of no new funding from the state,” said Ronald Wilson, Hearne ISD’s chief financial officer.

“I think we were more successful in growing the whole child, on the part where we’re growing young ladies and young men,” said Jerrica Liggins, Paris ISD’s secondary education director and college transition coordinator. “We gave them things that they need to be successful in the next grade level or whether they were graduating and going out into the workforce. We gave them things that helped make them a better person.”

The funds “helped them keep the doors open, helped them make sure staff were in classrooms ready to greet kids when they came back; it helped them not … collapse,” Brownson said. “What we don’t have is the counterfactual: What shape would school districts be in right now if they had to manage the pandemic and had not had ESSER funding available?”

Maintaining the programs Texas schools created with federal relief funds will likely be difficult without them.

Gov. Greg Abbott has faced sharp criticism from public school advocates for his unwillingness to support standalone legislation to significantly boost school funding.

The governor has vowed to make a similar push when the Legislature reconvenes next year.

But for low-income districts, money difficulties are not unfamiliar. And they plan to do what they’ve always done: find ways to provide for students and families with their limited resources.

”We’re taking as much of the funding issues on ourselves and moving forward,” said Hearne ISD Superintendent Adrian Johnson, adding that he is still hopeful that legislators will do more to fund public schools.

“But we’re not waiting on that to happen,” he said.

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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‘If she knew’: The sexual abuse scandal taking center stage in Lorena ISD

The school district has been largely quiet about allegations that a principal failed to report warning signs of sexual abuse. parents are searching for answers and accountability.

Local government reporter

6:30 AM on Sep 4, 2024 CDT

State Board of Education member Pat Hardy (standing at right) meets with members of the...

Instead of just being a time of excitement and anticipation, the return to the classroom this August was another reminder of the legal cases centered on sexual abuse that have embroiled the Lorena Independent School District and its community for more than three years.

Since summer 2021, headlines about Lorena have focused on a scandal involving a former substitute teacher at Lorena Primary School who sexually abused two pre-kindergarten students. Nicolas Crenshaw, 29, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in May 2023.

In August, three months later, the parents of one of the victims — referred to as Jane Doe — sued the school district and Lorena Primary School Principal April Jewell, alleging they ignored warning signs and reports of Crenshaw’s behavior.

Jewell, 45, still is the principal and is seeking immunity from the lawsuit as a public official. Separately, the Texas Education Agency also is investigating her.

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With Jewell still in charge at Lorena Primary School, some parents are looking for answers and accountability. They are also pursuing changes at the state level to have more ways to hold school officials accountable in the future.

But they don’t feel their voices are being heard by Lorena ISD leadership, resulting in some choosing to homeschool their kids this year.

“The district has kind of just ignored everybody in regards to this,” said Rachel Eason, a parent of two young children who she said she had planned to send to Lorena Primary School. “I think a lot of people in the community still don’t know about it because everybody says that we shouldn’t talk about it.”

Jewell declined to participate in an interview offered by The Dallas Morning News . One of her lawyers responded through email to a series of questions sent by The News and denied Jewell was aware of Crenshaw’s criminal acts.

Parents pivot education plans

Lorena is home to about 1,800 people; however, the hallmark of the quiet central Texas town is its four public schools — which have a collective “A” grade on Niche.com.

Eason said she and her family moved to neighboring Hewitt in early 2022 specifically so they could be a part of Lorena ISD. But after the news broke about the lawsuit involving Jewell, Eason and her husband were forced to reconsider where they would ultimately send their kids to school.

Though both their kids are just toddlers, Eason said one will soon be old enough to attend Lorena Primary School. But Jewell’s presence there and the events of the past few years give them pause.

State Board of Education member Pat Hardy (center, wearing orange) talks with members of the...

Jane Doe’s lawsuit against Jewell alleges teachers made the principal aware of Crenshaw’s inappropriate actions for months but Jewell chose to look the other way. The lawsuit alleges Jewell allowed him “unmonitored access to Jane behind locked doors” while aware of his misconduct.

Jewell’s inaction resulted in Crenshaw violating Jane Doe’s constitutional rights, the lawsuit says. Doe has since been diagnosed with “post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety,” according to the lawsuit, and her parents are seeking damages.

Andrea Mooney, a Plano-based lawyer representing Jewell, wrote to The News that the petitioner’s version of events is “inaccurate.”

Eason said she’s not currently planning to send her kids to Lorena Primary School for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. After that, she and her husband are considering homeschooling their kids for first and second grade even though the school also teaches kids that age.

She’s not alone.

Some parents are hesitant to send their children to Lorena Primary School, given the allegations. They’ve made their voices heard at recent school board meetings, calling on Jewell to resign or be removed from her post as principal — even if she must be put on paid leave.

Two of Elliott Kelly’s children — his oldest and middle child — attended Lorena Primary School last year. Though his family’s experiences at the school have been “positive overall,” Kelly’s middle child is not attending first grade at the school this year. He’s being homeschooled.

“It’s just an allegation. I understand that,” Kelly said. “But if she knew about something … How are they going to explain allowing her to continue to be in charge of these very vulnerable-aged students?”

Denny Kramer, Lorena ISD school board member and president, said the district’s position “is to allow the legal process to run its course.”

“We remain confident in the judicial system,” he wrote in a statement to The News .

Jane Doe’s parents declined an interview offer by The News out of concerns for Doe’s confidentiality, their lawyer Monica Beck said. They did not provide further comment.

Lorena Primary School Principal April Jewell applauds a speaker during the public comment...

An ongoing legal battle for immunity

Though Jewell and Lorena ISD have tried to throw out the lawsuit, a federal judge in Waco ruled against them earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s ruling this June followed a recommendation made by a magistrate judge just a few weeks prior.

The magistrate judge, Jeffrey Manske, recommended that Jewell not be entitled to qualified immunity and said that her lack of executive action as principal “shocks the conscience.”

Since then, Jewell has appealed to a higher court.

In a legal briefing filed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 9, Jewell pushed back on allegations that she was aware of a pattern of inappropriate behavior from Crenshaw. Her representation said the alleged facts of the case did not show that Jewell “demonstrated deliberate indifference” to Doe’s constitutional rights.

Lorena ISD Superintendent Joe Kucera told The News in a statement that Jewell will remain principal at Lorena Primary School “unless new information were to be brought forward.”

“We want all students to feel safe and welcome in Lorena ISD,” Kucera wrote. “The Primary School has been very successful under April Jewell’s leadership. However, every parent has a right to make decisions that are in the best interest for their child.”

He added Lorena ISD “believes a few students have withdrawn this year because their parents disagree” with the district’s decision.

Not ‘one isolated incident’

While some parents have chosen not to send their children to Lorena Primary School this year, that is not an option for Amanda Gilmore.

She didn’t want her daughter to attend the school, but as a single parent, homeschooling wasn’t on the table. And financial costs meant sending her daughter to a private school was also not likely.

Although Gilmore’s daughter is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Jewell, Crenshaw’s inappropriate behavior toward her is mentioned in an updated version of the timeline.

One night in October 2020, around bedtime, Gilmore said her daughter asked her to scratch her back “like Mr. Nick,” referencing Crenshaw.

“I said, ‘Show me what Mr. Nick did.’ And she started rubbing my back really inappropriately for a [teacher] to be doing to a school child, especially not being your child,” she said.

Gilmore said she reported the instance the next day to two school officials, one being Jewell, thinking they would take action. But it wasn’t until May of the next year that Crenshaw would be arrested following a Lorena Police Department investigation.

“They truly made it seem like it was just one isolated incident,” Gilmore said.

In her statement, Mooney said Jewell “denies in the strongest terms” that Gilmore made the report to her.

Separately, Kucera told The News that Lorena ISD completed its own investigation into Crenshaw in February 2021 in response to a complaint filed that did not reference allegations of sexual abuse or uncover sexual abuse.

Lorena ISD school board president Denny Kramer arrives for a school board meeting Aug. 26,...

Pushback to critics

As the lawsuit has developed against Jewell and the school district, community leaders have discussed it minimally in public. But in some cases, town officials have broken their silence.

In a post to Facebook from spring 2024 acquired by The News , Lorena Police Chief Scott Holt appeared to reference those criticizing the school district as representing “the loud and uneducated opinion of the minority.” He also said in the post that “some people live in misery” and “will never be satisfied.”

In the remainder of the post, he expressed his appreciation for Lorena ISD staff and their impact on his and his family’s education.

Holt did not respond to a request for comment. The News reached out by email three times and also called the Lorena Chief of Police staff directory phone number.

Holt’s post would not be the last instance of pushback toward those criticizing Lorena ISD in the wake of the lawsuit.

In June, the Lorena City Council voted against approving Elliott Kelly and another Lorena ISD parent, Lane Wakefield, to serve on a city economic development committee. The council’s move came after Mayor Tommy Ross spoke publicly against their approval, given both Kelly and Wakefield’s public criticism of the district in the context of the lawsuit.

“It’s your fight. I don’t care,” Ross said. “But it’s very adversarial to serve on the city’s committee and you’re in controversy with the school.”

Ross did not respond to three emails requesting comment or a call to the city of Lorena’s main phone number.

Today, Wakefield leads the “Justice for Jane” campaign. The district and town’s strategy is “to keep everything quiet,” he said. But given that the situation stemming from Crenshaw’s conduct has lasted more than three years, he said, “There’s too much on the line for parents to sit back.”

From left, Lorena ISD school board president Denny Kramer, superintendent Joe Kucera and...

In an August letter addressed to State Board of Education member Evelyn Brooks and sent to Lorena ISD parents, Kucera wrote, “The District did not ignore any report regarding Crenshaw.” In the letter, he also laid out a timeline that began in May 2021, more than half a year after events alleged in Jane Doe’s lawsuit began.

Several parents said they felt community members were inclined to protect Jewell, who is in her ninth year as an employee at Lorena ISD. She was an assistant principal at Lorena Primary School for two years before becoming the principal in 2018. Before that, she worked in public school districts in the Waco area.

Kelly said some in Lorena who are friends with Jewell or have known her for a while tend to believe that she couldn’t have known about the abuse.

“She can be a great person. She can do a bunch of great things. She can have one lapse in judgment, and that still has consequences,” he said. “She is still subject to the consequences of making a bad decision.”

Changes at the state level

Similar to police officers and those who work in government, school officials can be entitled to qualified immunity in cases of wrongdoing. With Jewell continuing to seek immunity from the lawsuit through the federal court system, some Lorena parents are also pursuing reforms on the state level.

According to Jaba Tsitsuashvili, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, Texas is one of many states with laws that can sometimes leave victims under-protected. Public school officials “tend to be entitled to a broad scope of immunity,” he said. In 2022, the Institute for Justice gave Texas a “D” grade for its immunity and accountability practices. More than 30 other states received a similar grade.

Though legal changes to state law would not impact the current case, certain changes could allow Texans to pursue recourse from a different and quicker legal avenue than the federal courts in the future.

Fritz Hager, a lawyer based in Tyler specializing in family and school law, said state-level reforms “would give a new legal venue for parents to fight for the rights of their children.”

“You do have to ask the question of our political leadership: Why is it okay if someone spanks a student and they can be sued? But if they stand by and know they are being sexually abused and don’t act, then they can’t be sued?” Hager said.

Under Texas law, exceptions to granting immunity to school officials could include when negligence results in “bodily injury to students.” However, exceptions to immunity claims do not explicitly reference negligence in situations when a student is sexually abused.

Some Lorena parents, including Wakefield, want that changed.

Wakefield and several parents met with state Sen. Brian Birdwell at his Waco office on Aug. 5 to discuss potential reform.

In a statement to The News , Birdwell said the meeting was the “first step in a series of conversations and meetings to see what possible legislative courses of actions might be appropriate.”

He added that he has already spoken with officials from the TEA and Lorena ISD.

“I continue to gather information and will wait for [the] TEA to finish their internal review before making an assessment if there are any structural weaknesses in state law,” he wrote.

The case has also caught the attention of other state-level officials, including State Board of Education members Evelyn Brooks and Pat Hardy.

Brooks attended an Aug. 26 Lorena ISD school board meeting where she pushed for unity within the school district. Referencing the TEA’s investigation into Jewell, she said after those results are published “more healing needs to take place.”

Parent Lane Wakefield hugs State Board of Education member Evelyn Brooks after she spoke...

At the same meeting, Hardy sat in solidarity with several parents wearing T-shirts bearing the words “Justice for Jane,” written in gray and pink. In her public comments, she pushed for accountability for those who might have been aware of Crenshaw’s conduct.

In an interview with The News before the meeting, Hardy said though Lorena ISD was not within her own jurisdiction as a board member, she heard about the case via emails from concerned parents.

“I felt like there was justice in a way but not true justice,” Hardy said. “I think there are more adults that need to be held accountable.”

What happens next?

With the TEA investigation pending and a lawsuit sitting at an appellate court, many parents in Lorena ISD are left playing the waiting game.

Though Gilmore said her “gut feeling” is that Jewell will not get immunity, she worries about a lengthy legal process.

“They’re going to drag it out as long as they possibly can,” she said. “But, ultimately, I think Lorena is going to end up settling.”

Some parents also believe the TEA investigation into Jewell might yield quicker results. Jake Kobersky, the agency’s media relations director, confirmed that the TEA is investigating Jewell but did not comment on when results would become public.

If the agency revokes Jewell’s teaching certificate, she would likely be unable to teach again in the state. Kucera said Lorena ISD would “take appropriate action” if there was a change to Jewell’s teaching certificate status.

Still, some parents in Lorena feel uncertain about the future of their children’s education, including Eason. If Jewell were out of the picture, Eason said she would enroll her kids at Lorena Primary School. But as long as Jewell is there, Eason’s kids will not be.

“It’s difficult because she’s already accused of ignoring potential child abuse,” Eason said. “If something happened to my child, would she ignore it again?”

Pavan Acharya , Local government reporter . Pavan Acharya covers local government for The Dallas Morning News. Native to Illinois, he is a rising senior at Northwestern University studying journalism and political science. Pavan has previously reported on politics for the Medill News Service in Washington, D.C.

Barrow Sheriff Jud Smith provides an update on the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Sept. 4, 2024.

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Texas gulf coast area labor federation opposes houston isd’s $4.4 billion bond proposal.

The regional coalition of labor groups includes the Houston Federation of Teachers, which is the largest union in HISD and has been critical of its state-appointed leadership. A local economic development organization, meanwhile, supports the bond.

Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson holds up a sign at HISD's meeting.

A regional coalition of labor groups, including the largest teachers' union in Houston ISD, is opposed to the district's first bond proposal in more than a decade.

The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, which includes 95 unions representing more than 60,000 workers across 13 counties in the Houston area, announced a series of endorsements this week for the Nov. 5 election. The federation also said delegates of its member unions voted unanimously not to support the $4.4 billion bond package for HISD , citing a lack of community support for the district's state-appointed leadership.

The Texas Education Agency in June 2023 replaced HISD's nine elected trustees with a state-appointed board of managers . It installed Mike Miles as superintendent because Wheatley High School received a string of failing academic ratings from the agency. Instructional reforms under Miles led to improvements last year in standardized testing results but also have contributed to widespread staffing turnover and pushback from students, parents and educators .

"Our leaders and members are part of that community," said Jay Malone, a spokesperson for the labor federation. "We teach in HISD, we have kids in HISD, we drive the busses, clean the schools, and we're seeing how broken things have gotten under his leadership. Ultimately, our union leaders, our members, don't feel that it's prudent to trust someone with a long history of mismanagement with the largest bond in Texas history."

RELATED: Local Democrats call for audits of Houston ISD bond proposal, charter school network founded by Mike Miles

HISD's first bond proposal since 2012 will appear on the ballot as Propositions A and B. The package aims to renovate and rebuild aging campuses, with a focus on elementary and middle schools, while improving safety, security and technology across the district and expanding HISD's prekindergarten and career training programs.

The Greater Houston Partnership, which serves as a chamber of commerce and economic development organization, supports the bond proposal . It will not come with an increase to the property tax rate, according to district administrators.

The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation endorsed the 2012 bond and also the previous one in 2007, according to Malone, who said the group has supported HISD bonds "going back as far as anybody can remember." The difference this time, Malone said, is Miles.

The superintendent and his changes, which put a focus on discipline and testing-based evaluations, have drawn sharp criticism from the Houston Federation of Teachers, the largest union in HISD with about 6,000 members. That union and other local affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers are part of the regional labor federation.

"We've seen that Mike Miles has lost the trust of parents, educators and the larger community," Malone said. "This has come out consistently over the last few months and really since his administration started."

A survey released last week by Z to A Research , which was commissioned by the Texas American Federation of Teachers, showed that 53% of likely voters in Houston do not support the bond proposal as it will appear on the ballot.

A poll previously released by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research found that about 75% of district residents would support a bond that does not significantly increase property taxes. That poll was conducted before HISD's board of managers voted to place the proposal on the ballot and did not include the ballot language.

"The way I analyze the two different polls together, the reality is probably somewhere in between those two results," said Duncan Klussmann, a former Spring Branch ISD superintendent who now works as an assistant clinical professor in the University of Houston's College of Education. "Because the teacher association, my understanding is they're opposing the bond. I'd be a little leery of that result."

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TEA: 87% of Public School Campuses Passed their "Intruder Detection Audit" in School Year 2023-24. School facility security audits found no problems with 7,293 (87 percent) of the state's 8,382 campuses during the 2023-24 school year, the TEA concludes in the recently released Intruder Detection Audits (IDA) report…. August 12, 2024.
Texas public schools face a 'budget crisis' under Gov. Greg ...
Abbott responded to 39 Texas House members who called for increased spending on public education on the same day the Texas teachers' union released a report detailing funding issues.
Texas' new school safety law mostly addresses the Justice ...
Texas is already trying to implement many of the Justice Department's recommendations. Under HB 3, the state created a safety and security department within the Texas Education Agency and gave it the authority to compel school districts to establish and follow robust safety protocols.
Five public education issues stand out during Texas' 88th ...
Published January 10, 2023 at 9:33 AM CST. Gabriel C. Pérez. /. KUT. Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week for the start of a new legislative session. It will be the first one since the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, and it will be the second regular session since the COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions in education.
Education Articles
News & Politics |. October 13, 2023. Superintendent Mike Miles Has Big Plans for Houston ISD. A Five-Foot-Tall Retired Teacher Stands in His Way. This summer, the Texas Education Agency took ...
Texas schools got billions in federal pandemic relief. It's ...
Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations on topics covering education, the economy, Texas and national politics, criminal justice, the border, the 2024 elections and ...
Texas
News, analysis, and opinion about K-12 education in Texas. A makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre stands outside a home on the ...
Texas Releases $11 Billion Of $18 Billion In Federal Stimulus Money For
Education News Texas Releases $11 Billion Of $18 Billion In Federal Stimulus Money For Public Schools. The newly released funds come after educators and state Democrats urged the governor to ...
Texas schools got billions in federal pandemic ...
Texas schools will likely face similar spending questions next year. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, recently directed that chamber's education committee to review how public schools spent the massive influx of federal COVID-19 relief money. The review will likely focus on how districts used the funds to improve ...
Education
Breaking news and the latest headlines on students, teachers, schools and universities in North Texas, including Dallas, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Arlington, Irving and beyond.
Public education in the 2023 Texas Legislature
Texas Legislature 2023. Texas Legislature gears up to tackle long-standing and fresh issues in public education. Here's what you need to know. Lawmakers are looking at ways to keep teachers in ...
Quality Counts 2021: Educational Opportunities and Performance in Texas
State Overview. This year, Texas finishes 42nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 71.3 out of 100 points and a grade of C-minus. The nation as a whole posts ...
Education
After roaring back with an issue on women's health, we exposed heat deaths at Tesla and USPS, went after Angela Paxton, and broke news on queer rights. by Lise Olsen and Gabriel Arana Load more
Latest education news and headlines
Latest education news and headlines - CBS Texas
Texas soon requiring silent panic alert technology in schools
Alyssa's Law went into effect in June 2023, mandating public and charter schools to install silent panic technology after the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.
'If she knew': The sexual abuse scandal taking center ...
State Board of Education member Pat Hardy (standing at right) meets with members of the Justice for Jane group before attending a meeting of the Lorena ISD school board on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024 ...
Education Week
Education Week - K-12 education news and information
STEM starting pathway to teaching
STEM Academy has started a new pathway called Pathway to Teaching with an emphasis on science and math. Pictured are Program Coordinator Amanda Hart, STEM Academy Executive Director Shannon ...
The teacher shortage in Texas, explained
Since the 2011-12 school year, Texas' attrition rate has hovered around 10%. That number dipped to about 9% during the 2020-21 school year but is going back up — rising to almost 12% during ...
Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation opposes Houston ISD's $4.4
The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, which includes 95 unions representing more than 60,000 workers across 13 counties in the Houston area, announced a series of endorsements this week for ...
2 Texas colleges reach top-30 in Wall Street Journal ranking
The good news is that the University of Houston Downtown ranked as the 17th-best student experience in the U.S. That means, according to The Wall Street Journal, students enjoy waking up for class ...
More than $72K in grants award to Bullard ISD campuses
From Staff Reports. BULLARD — The Bullard Education Foundation visited all six Bullard ISD campuses Tuesday to award teachers more than $72,000 in grants to fund 40 innovative learning programs ...
If the boot fits: Braswell teacher uses West Texas childhood to tell
Denton, TX (76205) Today. Plentiful sunshine. High 83F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight
Latest Texas Tribune events and articles
Those between 70 and 74 will get a $2,400 one. The bill calls for a 2% adjustment for teachers who retired between 2013 and 2020, a 4% one for those who retired between 2001 and 2013, and a 6% one ...
New TSU President James Crawford III eyes student success
Texas Southern is almost four times the size of Felician University, the private Catholic school in New Jersey where he served as interim president before permanently holding the top position from ...
Higher education
The latest higher education news from The Texas Tribune. 1; 2; 3 ... Keller, commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board since 2019, takes office on Aug. 1. Full Story .