Students across North Texas are heading back to class this week, but this school year begins with some significant changes — from new rules governing how districts investigate teacher misconduct to declining enrollment — and those issues can look very different from one district to another.
KERA's education reporter Bill Zeeble and Lucinda Breeding-Gonzales, who covers education for the Denton Record-Chronicle, joined NTX Now hosts Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning to talk through how districts they're covering and maneuvering these new challenges.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the 'listen' button above.
Falling enrollment at Dallas ISD
The amount of money Texas school districts receive is directly tied to how many students are enrolled each year.
Zeeble says about 130,000 students are enrolled in DISD this year, down from 143,000 a year or two ago.
"That's a big drop," he said. "And, as you mentioned, the money from the state follows the students."
New misconduct rules
During the last Texas legislative session, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 751, which updated the Texas Education and Family Code. Now, instead of requiring districts to conduct a district-level, internal investigation, the law says districts must report alleged abuse to outside authorities, like the state Department of Family and Protective Services, within 24 hours.
"So, it shortened the window and it toughened up those reporting requirements," Breeding-Gonzales said.
The legal council for Denton ISD's updated trustees during most recent school board meeting, saying the district is prioritizing safety and security and have no objections to the rule change. But Breeding-Gonzales said she's seen chatter online from Texas educators who say the change feels "antagonistic."
"The stakes feel higher, even though the culture in the classroom seems to be, 'we want to take allegations seriously, we want to investigate things,'" she said. "But shortening this window and sending things to external law enforcement agencies and the Texas Education Agency just makes the stakes feel higher, and we did see investigations kind of really bump up since that law went into effect."
Technology in the classroom
It's not yet clear if Dallas ISD will cut back on the use of technology in classrooms, but Zeeble says many North Texas districts have expressed wanting kids to have access to more textbooks and less technology. State law already restricts students from using their phones during the school day.
"There's statistics that show...more kids are becoming more literate without the iPhone in their hand," Zeeble said.
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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