Spring ISD trustees select lone finalist for superintendent position
Spring ISD named Kregg Cuellar as the lone finalist for its superintendent position. A closer look: During the SISD board of trustees’ special Aug. 18 meeting, trustees unanimously voted to name Cuellar as the lone finalist. Cuellar has been serving as interim superintendent in the wake of former Superintendent Lupita Hinojosa’s retirement, which was effective June 1. Quote of note: “I just want to say thank you for all the support, and thank you for the belief [in] me,” Cuellar said. “To the board ... thank you for trusting me with this enormous responsibility and the care of our 34,000 students and 5,000 staff.” Some context: School districts are required by state law to wait 21 days after naming a lone finalist for superintendent positions before officially hiring them.
Lone Star College to launch early childhood education bachelor’s degree with help from grant
Lone Star College System is moving forward with plans to offer a new bachelor’s degree in early childhood education with help from a $200,000 grant from Houston Endowment, according to an Aug. 13 news release.
The details: The grant will help fund consulting services and curriculum development for the degree program, as stated in the release. The Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education and Teaching will serve early childhood-grade 3 and early childhood-grade 6.
The degree is expected to launch in fall 2026 with an initial cohort of 150 students, pending approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as well as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, per the release.
Diving in deeper: The bachelor’s degree would become the fifth bachelor’s program in the college system’s offerings, which includes cybersecurity, emergency management, energy and trades management and nursing, according to the release.
Texas House approves mid-decade congressional redistricting plan
The Texas House signed off on a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts Aug. 20. The vote came two days after approximately two dozen House Democrats ended a two-week walkout in protest of the redistricting effort.
The overview: Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican who filed the proposed map, said 37 of Texas’ 38 congressional districts would be redrawn, with “the primary changes focused [on] five districts for partisan purposes.”
“While there's no guarantee of electoral success, Republicans will now have an opportunity to potentially win these… five new districts,” Hunter said.
The debate: House Democrats decried Texas’ proposed map as “illegal and racially discriminatory,” arguing that it would “dilute” minorities’ voting power by dividing historically Black and Hispanic communities into multiple districts.
“Texans and Americans all across the country are watching,” Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said. “They know this map before us is a calculated maneuver to diminish the voices of the very communities that power Texas.”
House Republicans maintained that race was not considered when the new lines were drawn.