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Texas News
How is Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Angélica Ramsey listening to the community? By meeting them
Gathered together on a Zoom call, dozens of students meet with Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Angélica Ramsey and give her their thoughts on issues ranging from the dress code to campus budgets.

On the days she gets to meet with them, Ramsey said it’s her best meeting of the day.

The student advisory council is one of five councils the superintendent rolled out to try to get input from people at all levels of the school district to improve campuses.
TEA now intervening in Austin ISD just two weeks after Houston ISD takeover
The Texas Education Agency plans to appoint conservators to oversee the Austin Independent School District’s embattled special education program, sparking a fresh round of allegations Texas’ GOP state leaders are targeting public schools in a second Democratic stronghold. 

The action comes roughly two weeks after the agency announced it will take over the Houston Independent School District, triggering pushback from community members and criticism from opponents who say that the takeover is a political maneuver that would strip voting rights from the majority Black and Hispanic community.
CCISD certified bilingual teachers give their take on the ‘Bilingual Education Program’
One teacher said the program aids children who are starting at a disadvantage. Another says the program causes students to miss out on social language opportunities.

This year, the Corpus Christi Independent School District announced their Bilingual Education Program, which would provide primarily Spanish speaking students with a certified bilingual teacher. 

The district plans to change its bilingual program starting with the 2023-2024 school year to consolidate its bilingual teachers into 19 campuses. 
Gov. Abbott is Turning Up the Pressure on Passing School Choice. Will it Pay Off?
There is little evidence, though, that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House to drop their opposition.

Six years ago, Gov. Greg Abbott riled up a crowd of school choice supporters on the steps of the Texas Capitol, calling on lawmakers to send him a bill that would allow parents to use tax dollars to take their kids out of public schools.

“I hope and I urge that that law reach my desk,” Abbott said, donning a yellow scarf — the uniform of school choice advocates — to mark National School Choice Week.
TASB Legislative Report – April 4, 2023
Trustee rally at the Capitol: A group of current and former trustees are planning a day at the Capitol to voice support for public education on April 11. Specifically, they want to convey that Texas trustees agree: 
  • Parents are partners in their children’s education and experts on their own children.
  • Texas schools are underfunded, which harms students, communities, and the future of our state.
  • Teachers are a deeply valued part of our community and we need to take care of them.
Affiliate Feature
RGVTALAS, TALAS’ Rio Grande Valley affiliate, commits to continue TALAS’ mission to improve learning outcomes for Latino learners by providing leadership development, collective impact, advocacy, and a proactive voice for Latino and non-Latino leaders who have a passion for serving the fastest growing student population in the state.
Looking for a new opportunity?
Leadership opportunities available:
Take a look at who’s hiring:
National News
‘Hidden Homeless’: A Key Measure of Homelessness Excludes Most Students
As schools prepare for the expiration of a pandemic-era surge in funding to aid homeless students, advocates are concerned that those vulnerable children aren’t counted in a critical data collection that underpins federal efforts to address the housing crisis.

U.S. public schools identified 1.1 million students experiencing homelessness in the 2020-21 school year, the most recent year for which federal data are available. But most of those students slept on couches or camped out temporarily in motels. That’s a kind of housing insecurity that isn’t included in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s tally—a key federal measure of homelessness.
Number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions Bounces Back
The number of Hispanic-serving institutions in the 2021–22 academic year exceeded the number that existed before the pandemic, according to new data on HSIs from Excelencia in Education, an organization dedicated to Latino student success.

The increase comes after the number of HSIs decreased for the first time in two decades last year, partly due to enrollment declines and college closures during the pandemic.
The Debate Over English Learner Terminology, Explained
The terminology used to classify students in need of specialized support to acquire the English language in public schools has shifted over time, gradually embracing more positive connotations of multilingualism.

Historically, these students—who make up about 10 percent of the U.S. public school population, according to the latest federal data—have faced barriers to accessing quality language and academic content instruction. The very language used to describe them in the past, such as limited-English proficient, has reflected the negative expectations and experiences these students have endured.
5 signs your district’s edtech tools aren’t the right fit
Insufficient solutions will consume your budget and provide inadequate data to justify your spending, says one expert. But leaders can identify the warning signs early.

Where would your district’s benchmarks would be without the implementation of successful, need-based edtech tools? If it weren’t for instructional technology, students’ academics would’ve taken an even larger hit during the pandemic… imagine that. Yet, not every solution is a meaningful one, and education leaders must recognize the signs when they’re not working.
Higher ed has an important role as communities fight over K-12 education
Fights over teaching about topics like race, slavery and sexuality might be centered in schools, but they’re affecting universities, one professor writes.

The gulf between the higher ed and K-12 sectors has always been too wide. With challenges to freedom of thought, speech and curriculum increasing, we have a unique opportunity to narrow that gap. Yet this will be a hard shift for many members of the higher ed community.
Las Tienditas
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At RethinkEd, we’re on a mission to provide the support and create the communities that help individuals and the people they care about live healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives each and every day. RethinkEd’s innovative solutions create healthy school climates, promote a greater awareness and understanding of mental health and wellness, and empower educators with training and instructional tools that drive whole school success.