Morgan Smith
reports on politics and education for the Tribune, which she joined in November 2009. She writes about the effects of the state budget, school finance reform, accountability and testing in Texas public schools. Her political coverage has included congressional and legislative races, as well as Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign, which she followed to Iowa and New Hampshire.
In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for "Death of a District," a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor's degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas.
A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.
Recent Contributions
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photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Attorney General Greg Abbott, the Republican nominee for governor, speaks at a GOP women's luncheon on Oct. 8, 2014.
Buoyed by recent polling numbers in the Texas governor's race, Republican nominee Greg Abbott touted his support among female voters during a Wednesday campaign stop, less than a week before the Nov. 4 election.
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photo by: Martin do Nascimento
State Board of Education members work their way through proposed revisions to social studies textbooks at a meeting with publishers in Austin on Monday, October 20, 2014.
In a month, the State Board of Education will take a final vote on the social studies textbooks that will be used in the state's public schools for the next eight years.
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Colorized scanning electron micrograph of filamentous Ebola virus particles (red) attached and budding from a chronically infected VERO E6 cell (blue) (25,000x magnification).
Though Texas schools are relying on the guidance of health officials to determine the level of risk to their communities, they are making decisions like whether to cancel classes, give notice to parents, or change health screening policies largely on their own.
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photo by: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez
Students in Yvonne McDaniel's English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL, class participated in English-language exercises during summer school at McCallum High School in Austin on July 31, 2013.
If roughly 47,000 high school seniors in December fail to pass the state exams required to earn a diploma, their last shot at graduating with their peers in the Class of 2015 may depend on the quick movement of state lawmakers.
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A reading assistant reads on the classroom floor with a small group of fourth graders at Wanke Elementary School in San Antonio on March 9, 2012.
Most of the fifth- and eighth-graders who failed their state reading and math exams will likely move on to the next grade anyway.
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Republican Konni Burton and Democrat Libby Willis are running for the SD-10 Senate seat being vacated by Wendy Davis.
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photo illustration by: Todd Wiseman / Dennis Bartalon
UPDATED: Republican Texas House candidate Tony Tinderholt has raised about $25,000 since July, according to his latest campaign finance report.
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Sen.Leticia Van de Putte D-San Antonio and Sen. Dan Patrick R-Houston during during a joint Interim Committee to Study Human Trafficking in La Joya, Texas on July 24th, 2014. Both Senators are candidates to become the next Lt. Governor of Texas
UPDATED: A month before the November election, Republican lieutenant governor hopeful Dan Patrick has about $2 million more in his campaign bank account than his Democratic opponent, Leticia Van de Putte, according to figures released by both candidates.
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Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte, the Republican and Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor, spoke at the Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014.
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photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
District Court Judge John Dietz of Austin is shown in his courtroom on Feb. 4, 2013, before he ruled that the state's school finance system was unconstitutional.
UPDATED: Attorney General Greg Abbott will appeal a ruling that the Texas school finance system is unconstitutional, according to a notice his office sent Friday to attorneys in the case. The appeal is set to go directly to the Texas Supreme Court.
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Students at Townview Center in South Dallas.
Texas' headway with high school graduation rates hasn't been matched by similar success in measures that track students’ college and career readiness, prompting questions about what it takes to earn a high school diploma.
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Science educator Barbara Cargill of The Woodlands speaks to the Senate Nominations Committee about her nomination as chair of the State Board of Education on Feb. 11, 2013.
State Board of Education members said Thursday that they hoped to persuade regulators overseeing the teaching profession to reconsider a decision made against raising the minimum GPA for educator certification programs.
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Several academics on Tuesday pointed to flaws — including inaccurate descriptions of world religions and out-of-date racial terminology — in proposed social studies textbooks up for adoption by the Texas State Board of Education.
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Pre-K students in Josefina Pineda's classroom do the hokey-pokey at the Dallas Independent School District elementary school, Cesar Chavez Learning Center in Dallas, Texas.
In a shift for a state that has shunned other federal education initiatives, Texas will participate in an Obama administration early learning program.
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Austin Police Officer Cory Ehrler monitors the entrance to Ridgetop Elementary School after classes start on the Monday following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. As the 83rd legislative session approaches, Texas lawmakers are considering making firearms more available to teachers and other school personnel.
At least 10 Texas school districts have received armored plating, tactical vests, military vehicles, rifles, pistols and rounds of ammunition through a federal military surplus program.
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