Education

On Saturday, thousands of Texas school teachers and supporters of public education are expected to gather at the steps of the Capitol in Austin, and busloads of supporters are coming from San Antonio. The rally is called Save Texas Schools, and the goal is to convince the legislature and Governor Rick Perry to put back the billions of dollars that were cut from the public schools.

San Antonio State Representative Mike Villarreal is one of the rally’s organizers and speakers.

One of San Antonio’s largest school districts has signed a memorandum of understanding with the city on the Pre-K 4 SA program.  

The San Antonio Independent School district’s board of trustees unanimously approved the partnership with the city last night. SAISD Spokeswoman Leslie Price said the agreement will be the framework between the district, city, and Texas Education Agency:

While President Barack Obama did not mention San Antonio or Mayor Julián Castro by name, he did talk about early education initiatives during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

For a moment in the president's address, it seemed like one of Mayor Castro’s Pre-K 4 SA campaign rallies.

Obama: "Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program.”

San Antonio Independent School District is investigating at least five tutoring services that may have committed fraud. The companies are accused of requesting money for providing services to SAISD students that may not have been tutored.

The five companies have received about $240,000 from SAISD, some of which may have been requested fraudulently.

The Texas Education Agency has suspended issuing ratings for school districts this year as students get used to the new state exam. Three schools and one school district, who would have had their public school status revoked, have been given what amounts to a stay of execution because of the suspension.

The schools in question are: