In June, the state ordered the Honors Academy Charter District to shut its campuses after years of poor academic performance. But well into this school year, Honors' seven campuses across the state remain open — and the district has continued to publicize itself as an accredited public school. 

Full video of my 10/23 TribLive conversation with state Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, and state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. 

A provision of a Texas law that requires abortion facilities to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers was put on hold Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court. Those standards include minimum sizes for rooms and doorways and having pipelines for anesthesia.

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.

Full video of Ross Ramsey's 2014 Texas Tribune Festival keynote conversation with state Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, Speaker of the Texas House.

In a shift for a state that has shunned other federal education initiatives like Common Core and Race to the Top, Texas will participate in a signature Obama administration program focused on early learning. The news has already become a political football.

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, according to a letter sent by a coalition of civil rights and education advocacy groups to the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis talks about her "difficult decision" to have an abortion in 1996, when doctors told her the baby had severe brain abnormalities and would be deaf, blind and in a permanent vegetative state.

UPDATED: Asked why the state had delayed a transition away from lower passing standards on state exams, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams told state lawmakers Tuesday that classroom instruction had failed to meet the rigor demanded by the new tests. 

For-profit teacher certification companies, which graduate almost one in four of the state's new educators, are flourishing in Texas. But as the industry continues to grow, so do questions about the state's ability to control the quality of training the programs provide.

In December, the Texas Education Agency moved to shutter six charter schools under a new law requiring revocation of a charter’s state contract if it fails to meet academic or financial accountability ratings for three years. Three of those schools remain open — and they're fighting a process they say is overly simplistic.

Stacked up against other states, Texas public schools could win the best-bang-for-your-buck competition. The state spends less than most others, and its students perform better than many. But the commitment to fiscal restraint has come with its own burdens for the teachers responsible for educating the state’s future workforce.

For years, Texas policymakers have pushed for increasingly advanced science and math course requirements, along with standardized test-driven accountability, to improve academic performance at public schools. And over the last decade, students have made steady progress on a number of academic measures. But that improvement has begun to stall.

A recent announcement that the University of Texas System will commission an external investigation into the admissions process at the University of Texas at Austin is only the latest chapter in an ongoing, tension-filled saga. We have updated our timeline to include the latest developments.

A new state policy that ties teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests is drawing criticism from a range of sources, though it is helping the state move closer to securing a No Child Left Behind waiver. The policy is likely to be a topic of discussion Wednesday at a Texas House Public Education Committee hearing.

House Bill 5, which reduced standardized testing in public high schools, also included a provision aimed at easing the pressure of high-stakes exams for students in lower grades. But a year later, the provision that was written to curb the time educators spent preparing students for standardized tests instead of teaching may not have had the intended effect.

A special prosecutor, who is investigating whether Gov. Rick Perry abused his authority when he eliminated state funding of the Texas public integrity unit, told the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE that what he’s found so far is “concerning.”

The 2013 legislative session was viewed by many observers as a watershed moment for craft brewers in Texas. But at a Thursday hearing, the House Economic Development Committee was encouraged to do more for the industry.

Federal and state officials are in talks to work out a conflict in testing requirements under the state’s new high school graduation standards and federal education law. The current conflict could mean that eighth-graders taking algebra I must sit for two state exams.

As six charter schools face automatic closure under a new Texas law, the state is facing questions over the guidelines used to decide which schools to close — and whether the process unfairly handicaps schools that serve hard-to-reach students.

State senators will hold a hearing Thursday to assess Texas’ efforts to expand access to women’s health services across the state. Abortion rights advocates say an essential issue has been left off the agenda — the impact of strict abortion regulations passed in the previous legislative session.

To address shortfalls in Medicaid financing and billions in annual uncompensated care costs, Ted Shaw, president and chief executive of the Texas Hospital Association, issued a call to action to hospitals on Friday.

When Texas legalized brewpubs in 1993, the owners could only sell their product on-site. That changed in June with the implmentation of the largest overhaul of the craft beer industry in two decades.

The State Board of Education voted Friday to drop an existing requirement that all students at Texas public schools take algebra II to graduate. It also approved two high-level math courses that students can take as an alternative.

Texas ranks 33rd for its percentage of female legislators. The number of women in the upper chamber is unlikely to increase, even as two of the seven in the 31-member Senate — Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte — pursue statewide office. An increase of women is more likely in the House.

We've expanded the elected officials in our Ethics Explorer to include the nine judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the 15 members of the State Board of Education. We've also updated our existing analysis on members of the Legislature to include bills authored and sponsored during the 83rd legislative session. 

Full video of my 1/16 TribLive conversation with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who's running for reelection in 2014.