Top of the Class

4 North Texas high schools graduate to best in the nation

Just in time for the first day of school, Newsweek has revealed the top 500 high schools in the country — and four Dallas-Fort Worth schools make the cut.

Newsweek and research partner Westat assessed high schools on six factors: graduation rate, college-bound rate, enrollment in college preparedness classes, SAT/ACT scores, student retention, and counselor-to-student ratio. According to the publication, Carroll Senior High School, Plano West, Highland Park High School, and School for the Talented and Gifted are the best in the region.

The magnet school known as TAG leads the pack in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The well-regarded school ranks No. 1 in Texas and No. 26 overall. It boasts an impressive graduation rate of 100 percent and a college-bound rate of 98.2 percent.

Highland Park High School ranks No. 6 in Texas and No. 112 overall, with a 100 percent graduation rate and a 99.8 percent college-bound rate. Plano West, coming in at No. 8 in the state and No. 130 overall, has a nearly 97 percent rate of graduation with 97 percent of the kids college-bound. In Southlake, Carroll Senior High's 100 percent graduation rate and 95 percent college-bound score land it at the No. 10 spot in Texas and No. 145 overall.

Three of the schools — Plano West, TAG and Carroll Senior — also earned a "gold star" from Newsweek for having low-income students score at or above the average on standardized tests.

According to Newsweek, the other two top-rated schools in Texas besides School for the Talented and Gifted are Cedar Hill Collegiate High School at No. 76 (Cedar Hill) and DeBakey High School for Health Professionals at No. 91 (Houston).

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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