House Public Ed. interim hearing and the "state of education."

13 hours ago
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The House Public Education Committee met on May 11 to address two parts of their interim charges list: House Bill (HB) 1481 and the State of Education. Chairman Brad Buckley kept to a tight schedule for this first hearing. There were eight panels of invited testifiers, and members were allotted one hour to question each panel so that public testimony could be heard before the wee hours of the night.

The day began with Commissioner Mike Morath and Chief of School Safety John Scott giving short presentations regarding their work in the last year. Commissioner Morath provided the committee a snapshot of Texas’ 5.4 million students:

Most students (60%) in Texas are economically disadvantaged.
Texas educates more emergent bilingual (EB) students than any other state.
Texas serves the highest population of rural students in the country.

Additionally, he explained that while students have rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic in reading achievement, math scores remain below where they were pre-COVID. Ninety-one percent of students graduate high school on time; 59% enroll in some sort of postsecondary education right out of high school. He also noted that special education has almost doubled in the last decade to encompass 16.6% of students.

Scott focused on the agency’s efforts to ensure compliance with HB 3 (88R), namely school hardening measures. Vice Chair Diego Bernal pointed out that hardening only goes so far and would like to see more efforts on prevention, i.e. school counselors and psychologists to mitigate issues before they arise. The school safety allotment can be used in this manner, but districts are being forced to spend above and beyond those funds on unfunded armed guards and other barrier measures.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the hearing was testimony from the state demographer regarding the reasons for declining enrollment in traditional public schools. He stated that there are currently about 7 million school age children in Texas; only about 5.4 million of whom are enrolled in public schools. He cited three key pieces of this enrollment puzzle:

The primary driver of enrollment decline is “school choice” and the movement of students to homeschool or private school environments. We will not know the full impact of this factor until the voucher program goes into full effect in 2026-2027.
Immigration to Texas has slowed, both from other states and foreign countries. Of the 76,000 that have left Texas schools this year, 60,000 are Hispanic.
While the birthrate is declining, it is not as impactful as the previous two factors. (No one on the dais seemed to want to address why the birthrate is sinking.)

The committee also heard from many school leaders, and the refrain was common: We really appreciate HB 2, but we still need more resources and flexibility. Costs are rising, and districts are being forced to make hard decisions about what programs and services will be available in the coming year to address budget shortfalls. These shortfalls, witnesses said, are too common to be dismissed as financial mismanagement. This is a funding crisis that cannot be alleviated with one bill.

This was paired with public testimony about the number of school closures taking place across the state. More than 100 campus closures have been announced, and more are in discussion. Rep. Gina Hinojosa expressed disappointment that the committee did not have a panel on this issue: between underfunding and under enrollment (both of which are a result of state government (in)action), our schools are reaching a breaking point, and many small communities simply will not survive the demise of their school district.

Several testifiers expressed alarm at the number of district takeovers that TEA has planned or already executed in 2026. Between Houston, Fort Worth, Beaumont, Lake Worth, and Connally ISDs, the state now directly “manages” the education of about 240,000 students and has deprived those communities of democratic representation.

Over 2.4 million Texans now live in school districts where appointed boards of managers have taken over elected boards. That means millions of Texans have lost voting rights, have no elected accountability at their school board, and are subjected to taxation without representation.

Regarding HB 1481, the “cell phone ban,” the feedback was generally positive—with one librarian citing that circulation had gone up since the ban. Other panelists mentioned that implementation had its challenges, and there is some desire for some flexibility within the policy for high school students to use devices as part of training for the workforce and postsecondary opportunities.

As part of the State of Education charge, the witnesses that addressed artificial intelligence (AI) and educational technology did so with caution. Most acknowledged that the pace of technological development outstrips the typical pace of lawmaking but also that there was need for urgency to address the overuse or exclusive use of technology for direct instruction, especially for our youngest learners. Several witnesses zeroed in on the need for state-supported professional development for classroom teachers and for instruction in responsible use for students.

It is expected that the committee will announce another hearing soon to address additional charges.