Austin American-Statesman

DALLAS — The planned layoff of nearly 1,100 employees in the Dallas school district began Thursday, with the cutting of 150 noncontract workers and the elimination of 100 vacant positions. Layoffs in the district, which faces an $84 million budget shortfall, will continue at the end of next week when 550 teachers, administrators and other employees will lose their jobs.

After political student groups protest, rommates won't face discipline for political poster, officials say. Above: University of Texas roommates and cousins Connor Kincaid, left, and Blake Kincaid could have been barred from registering next year for not taking down signs supporting Democratic candidates.

During an administrative hearing Wednesday, a UT staff member gave Connor Kincaid and his cousin Blake Kincaid two hours to take down the signs from their Brackenridge Hall dormitory room that show support for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Blake Kincaid said.

If test phase is successful, e-books could shave hundreds of dollars from annually textbook bills. During the first frantic days of school this Fall semester, Marc Jalandoon left the University of Texas Co-op Bookstore with a backpack full of textbooks and a wallet $584 lighter.

KIPP, which stands for the Knowledge Is Power Program, is drawing more students to fulfill its expansion plans. By 2016, KIPP Austin plans to operate four elementary schools, three middle schools and two four-year high schools, in addition to the KIPP Austin College Prep middle school already up and running since 2002.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
Texas State researcher brings new tools, new questions to bear on a much-studied event. Above: Alberto Giordano, an associate professor at Texas State University-San Marcos, has been given $430,000 to study the Holocaust not just in time but also in geographic space.

Parents of 7-year-old found hanging by his shirt want to hear from school officials, attorney says.

Austin campus has been rated 'academically unacceptable' by the state since 2006 because of dropout rates and passing rates on state tests

Demand by University of Texas graduate students for university-owned housing exceeds supply. At the same time, graduate students are paying more for such housing than their income warrants.

By Mary Ann Roser
Study is latest to dispute work of Andrew Wakefield, head of Thoughtful House in Austin. A study has found no link between autism, measles vaccine and gastrointestinal illness, disputing research by a British doctor who runs an autism center in Austin that attracts children from across the country.

San Juan Diego calls itself 'The school that works.' The school is based on the model of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, founded in 1996 to provide a high-quality, Catholic college-prep education to poor students. Supporters of the model say it also helps keep students focused on graduation and college goals

Change in state financing law leaves districts with little choice, education observers say. Austin is not alone in asking voters for a tax rate increase this fall. It joins more than 100 of the state's school districts whose officials say a tax rate increase is the only viable option to cover rising prices and to help their employees' paychecks keep pace with inflation.

A University of Texas professor alerted Ballantine Books this spring that a novel it planned to publish about a wife of the Prophet Muhammad contained historical inaccuracies, and she said the book might spark violent protests.

African American students represent nearly a quarter of students who have fallen through the cracks. The annual dropout rates for African American students in Texas, already higher than dropout rates for white and Hispanic students, might be even higher than previously reported, according to a Texas Education Agency report released last week.

By Christopher Sherman
McALLEN — A South Texas university has 10 days to design a border fence that is intimidating enough to turn back illegal immigrants but does not offend the aesthetics of an otherwise idyllic campus. The University of Texas at Brownsville and the Department of Homeland Security have formalized an agreement presented to a federal judge last week that ends the government's attempt to condemn part of the campus for the border fence.