Here's a look at the week's education news stories from the ATPE lobby team:

• TRS update
• TEA shares STAAR resources
• Education events taking place this weekend

The board of trustees for the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) met this week in Austin. ATPE Lobbyist Monty Exter attended the meetings and provided this report for our blog, summarizing the board's discussions about data system upgrades and possible future actions pertaining to retire/rehire policies for educators and the assumed rate of return associated with the pension fund.  

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has been busy rolling out new STAAR testing resources for educators and parents. Its TexasAssessment.com website offers tools and data for parents, teachers, and administrators to help understand and analyze information related to the state's standardized testing system. This week, TEA made available to educators the ability to view sample reports that parents can access for their children. The goal is to help teachers provide guidance to their students' parents who may have questions about the STAAR reports. For more information on the new resources, check out this week's blog post by ATPE Lobbyist Kate Kuhlmann.  

This weekend, ATPE Lobbyist Mark Wiggins is attending the Texas Tribune's annual TribFest. Learn more about the education-related panel discussions that are taking place at the festival in this blog post from Mark. ATPE's Governmental Relations staff members are also out on the road this weekend attending ATPE meetings in Regions 12 and 14, with many more scheduled in the next few weeks. Learn more about these events in today's blog post from ATPE Political Involvement Coordinator Edwin Ortiz.