Intersect Ed

This school year, due to the pandemic, Texas public schools have seen steep enrollment declines that could have impacted their budgets. Thankfully the state has stepped in, and rather than funding schools based on their average daily attendance numbers, they opted to fund schools based on historical attendance data, something called “hold harmless.” Unfortunately, the hold harmless funding model i...

In our fifth episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand's Alejandro Izaguirre, we want to give you a landscape view of what school budgets look like for the upcoming school year and how the economic recession may impact school districts in the 2021 Texas Legislative session. You will hear from Chief Financial Officers from school districts across the state, a facilities worker, a principal...

In our fourth episode of Intersect Ed, hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Cody Huie , we’re giving you the opportunity to be a fly on the wall for two fascinating group conversations as school leaders from across the state planned, prepared, and reimagined school for the 2020-21 school year.  While there are many unknown and unresolved challenges ahead, these internal conversations demonstrate that distr...

When a high school senior walks across the stage to receive their diploma, it often feels like they are taking their first steps into adulthood. Jackie Peña planned to speak on that stage and pour her heart out to all the other students. She says she is “the first [in my family] to graduate in the top 10 of my class. So graduation for me was kind of like my perfect dream.” For the Class of 2020, h...

When Texas schools closed in mid-March, teachers had to pivot almost overnight to a new model of teaching, while simultaneously dealing with crisis management. Over the following months, we saw social media posts of teachers serving meals, leading parades, holding up encouraging signs, or tutoring students across their lawn. As these social media moments began to fade, we wanted to learn more abou...

For many teachers across Texas, the days before Spring Break marked the last time they would physically be in their classrooms and spend in-person time with their students. Since schools closed permanently for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year, teachers have been working non-stop to adjust to emergency remote learning. This episode hosted by Raise Your Hand’s Victoria Wang, focuses on o...