By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Texas education officials say school districts in the state's five largest cities failed to meet federal education standards because of discrepancies in how the state and federal government count tests taken by special education students.
Preliminary records released Thursday in Austin by the Texas Education Agency show this is the third consecutive year Dallas, Houston and San Antonio fell short of the standards. Austin failed last year. This is the first year for El Paso.
Overall, 78 percent of Texas school districts met standards this year. To pass, 73 percent of a district's students must pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills reading test and 67 percent must pass the math test.
State officials say they provide a modified test for special education students, but federal officials only count a portion of those test results as passing.
Texas gasoline prices rise a penny this week
Increased demand and rising crude oil prices have helped boost retail gasoline prices slightly across Texas. The weekly AAA Texas gasoline price survey released Thursday shows the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular grade rose a penny to $2.60. Nationally, the average price rose 2 cents to $2.76 per gallon.
The statement notes that crude oil prices topped $80 per barrel after averaging $78 the previous week. Also, gasoline demand reached its highest levels since August 2007.
The cheapest gasoline in Texas is in Houston and San Antonio with an average price of $2.55 per gallon, up a penny in Houston and 2 cents in San Antonio. The costliest gasoline is in El Paso, where the price rose a penny to $2.75.
Obama to hold event at University of Texas
President Barack Obama plans to hold an education-related event at the University of Texas when he's in Austin on Monday.
He's making the official presidential stop while in the state for Democratic fundraisers in Austin and Dallas. White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said Thursday that the invitation-only audience will be made up largely of UT-Austin students, but some from Austin Community College will be there, too.
A Texas Democratic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said that the event will be in a facility on campus that holds about 2,000 people.