Texas Education Agency

This is a reversal of the Texas Education Agency’s previous guidance, which didn’t explicitly require school districts to notify parents of a close contact with the virus.

It’s unclear why the state took so long to distribute funds approved in late 2020. The money will go toward helping tackle students’ “tremendous learning loss” during the pandemic.

Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking a waiver that would let him reroute nearly $18 billion in federal COVID aid from public schools to other areas of the budget.

Under the Texas Education Agency's formula, 44% of enrolled students need to be back in school buildings for at least 13 days during the last six weeks of the school year.

Austin ISD said students who came to a school building could leave immediately, but encouraged them to stay for regular classes because COVID transmission has been low.

Typically, there are high stakes around state assessment. A student who fails can be held back. Schools where a majority of students fail could face state intervention. This year, there are no consequences for students or schools based on the test.

Public schools across Texas are in limbo as they wait for word on how much funding they’ll receive from the state this semester.

The pandemic has upended school as most kids and teachers know it in Texas. But one part of the school year could proceed as normal: standardized testing, also known as STAAR.

More than 2,300 of Texas public school students who have returned to school in person since the beginning of this academic year — about 0.21% — have…

In a statement Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said local health authorities can shut down schools if there’s evidence of an outbreak after students have already…