Tag Archives: university of texas

KTSM TV, and their parent company Nexstar Media Group, announced Monday that they will host the only Texas gubernatorial debate between incumbent Governor Greg Abbott (R) and former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez (D).

The broadcast/stream is set for Friday, September 28, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. MT.

The one-hour, statewide debate will air state-wide on Nexstar stations, in addition to broadcast partners, and select Telemundo stations and all radio stations in the state.

The debate will be held in Austin at the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas. The debate will be moderated by Robert Hadlock of KXAN News in Austin. He will be joined by a panel of  local news anchors and journalists from across the state who will deliver questions to the candidates, including Julie Fine of KXAS NBC 5 news, Andy Cerota of KPRC 2 news, Steve Spriester of KSAT 12 news and Norma Garcia of Telemundo 39.

The questions will be focused on topical local/regional issues impacting communities across Texas and candidate-specific subjects.

Local viewers may access a live-stream of the debate online by visiting KTSM’s website.

AUSTIN  – Funding cuts by state lawmakers left a five-year, $5 billion hole in the budget for Texas public schools between 2011 and 2016.

A new University of Texas study analyzes the effect of those cuts, made because of state revenue shortfalls, which forced many districts to operate with less money despite a growing number of students.

Michael Marder, a professor and co-author of the study at the UTeach Institute at UT, says although state spending is beginning to rebound, there is still a need to deal with the problems caused by the cuts.

“Even if funding returns to previous levels, a five-year period where it was underfunded leaves not just a five-year hole in the budget but a five-year hole in what students learned,” he stresses. “So, they are going to be coming to the system having learned less than they might have otherwise.”

Marder says during that five-year period, the report shows that many districts were forced to cut class size, hire fewer teachers and limit non-core programs such as art, music and computer science.

He says properly funded school districts are better able to attract and retain high quality teachers and provide a wider variety of courses.

Marder points out the research shows that as the state begins to restore funding, the money is not always returned to the same programs to serve the same students.

“Accelerated instruction, which is for students who are struggling and need extra help, went down, particularly in schools with a lot of low-income students,” he explains. “Funding in the schools serving the lowest income students for bilingual education went down by as much as 40 percent.”

Marder says restoring the funding does not always deal with the problems created by the five-year “funding hole.”

“The neediest students may still not be receiving the same level of support they did previously, and I think this is a matter of concern to every citizen of Texas who cares about fellow citizens and the future of the state,” he states.

Marder says the study is the first of its kind to analyze the academic and practical effects of budget cuts on students in Texas school districts.

Author: Mark Richardson – Texas News Service

AUSTIN – Graduates from University of Texas System schools, on average, do better in their careers than students with degrees from other colleges – not just in Texas but across the nation, according to a joint study out today from Georgetown University and the University of Texas.

The study also found that students’ choice of major affects both their ability to get a job and future earnings, and said this especially is true for students from low-income families.

Lead report author Anthony Carnevale, who heads the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, said attending a top-tier school in Texas gives students a leg up on their career track.

“While it is true that the more education you get, the better you do – that’s kind of ‘Rule Number 1’ in the college and jobs game – it’s also true that what you make depends on what you take,” he said. “Just going is not the whole game.”

Carnevale said the study found that the UT System’s selective-admissions colleges spend more than double the amount of money per student on academic and instructional support than do open-admissions schools in Texas. UT System officials say they plan to use the study results to provide better academic and career guidance for students.

Carnevale said the study found that a UT System degree increases the chance of finding a job upon graduation, but a student’s course of study also affects his or her starting salary.

“So, if you major in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), business or health care, you make money and you’re likely to get a job,” he said. “If you major in education, you’re very likely to get a job but you won’t make much money.”

The study also found that economically disadvantaged students who graduate from UT System schools do considerably better than students attending other colleges on Pell grants.

“It looks like the penalty is minimized,” Carnevale said. “That is, disadvantaged students who get into the UT system, especially at Austin and Dallas, do much better than other Pell grant students outside the UT system.”

Other findings in the study included a significant wage gap between white and Latino graduates based on the number of Latinos who take jobs outside their degree field, and that women initially out-earn male graduates with similar jobs, but eventually their salaries fall behind men.

The report is online at georgetown.edu.

Author: Mark Richardson – Texas News Service