KLRU-TV, Austin PBS

Episode 215: Return to Comfort

Return to ComfortWe return to Comfort, Texas, where we profiled a school system, before the changes in education funding passed by the 2005 special session. How have those changes affected the day-to-day lives of public school teachers?  And what challenges remain in educating Texas kids in the future? (airing week of May 20th)

View entire show here.


Panelists:

Jason Embry covers statewide education issues, school finance and state spending for the Austin American-Statesman. He previously wrote about politics and education at the Waco Tribune-Herald. Embry is a graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown.

Jeri Stone is the Executive Director & General Counsel of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.  Jeri earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence at the University of Texas-Austin and joined the TCTA staff in 1978. Jeri has been practicing law for more than 25 years and has led the organization and its legislative advocacy efforts since 1985

Terrence Stutz is deputy chief of the Austin bureau of the Dallas Morning News. He has been a member of the bureau for more than two decades and specializes in coverage of education, insurance, the Texas Senate and the lieutenant governor. During that period, he reported on major education reform and school finance legislation, as well as statewide elections and other major breaking stories such as the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco in 1993 and the mass shootings at the Luby’s restaurant in Killeen in 1991. He is also credited with coining two phrases commonly used in Texas’ educational system – the “no-pass, no-play” rule and the “Robin Hood” school finance system. He previously covered one of the nation’s largest school districts – the Dallas ISD – and also covered the Oklahoma legislature while a reporter in Oklahoma City. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri.   



Research Links:

School Finance

Testing

Incentive Pay vs. Across the Board Raises

Teacher Evaluation and Firings

Vouchers

Religious Expression

Bible Classes

Charter School Accountability

Retired Teachers' Pay

Higher Education

Write us at Special Session

Made Possible By:

MFI FoundationBernard and Audre RapoportThe Nowlin Family Fund