The State Board of Education will convene in Austin Tuesday, June 24, at 9 a.m. CT through Friday, June 27. A critical item on the agenda is the Generation 30 (2025) charter applicants that move forward to the SBOE for a final vote on Jun 27, 2025.
The Commissioner of Education approved six of the seven new charter school applicants. These six charters schools project a total enrollment of over 3,500 students per year. Most plan to open in school districts that are already saturated with charter schools and lose 25% or more of their students to charter schools. There is little evidence of need for new charter schools in Texas. Inefficient charter schools drain vital resources from neighborhood public schools, and claim to have waitlists while falling significantly short of enrollment projections. This is why you see so much wasted tax dollars on charter school advertising. The Houston Chronicle reported that of the 19 new charter schools that opened since 2017, 18 fell short of their enrollment projections – at least one was 75% short of its projected enrollment. In addition, TEA data shows that 81% of new charter schools that opened in Texas between 2016 – 2022 scored significantly below the average of public school districts in Texas on the statewide 2024 STAAR assessment for all grades/all subjects.
In fact, three of these new charter schools recently closed for various reasons – but all three had low enrollment, and two received an F on the recently released 2023 STAAR ratings (the third did not have a tested grade in 2023). The 2025 charter applicants that move forward for a final vote and the school districts most affected include:
- Arcadia High School (Southwest Houston – Houston ISD, Alief ISD, Fort Bent ISD)
- Fort Worth STEAM Academy (Fort Worth ISD – Central East Fort Worth)
- Frank Liu Jr. Academy of Music and Arts (Houston ISD – Second, Third, Fifth Wards)
- The Museum School of East Dallas (Dallas ISD, Mesquite ISD)
- Unidos Soccer Leadership Academy (Northside ISD – San Antonio Area)
- Valenta Academy (Bastrop ISD and Central Texas)
Only Innovation Leadership Academy (Houston) did not make the final cut.
Next Steps:
- Contact State Board members to express your opinion (emails here).
- Testify to the State Board in Austin the week of June 24 – 27 (likely on Tuesday, June 24).
- For more information on the charter applicants in your area, contact Texas AFT at info@texasaft.org.
The final vote by the SBOE will be Friday, June 27.