TX Education Reformer: 'For far too long nearly 50% of Texas children haven’t been able to read on grade level'

The Texas Public Policy Foundation's (TPPF) Mandy Drogin said educational standards set by the State Board of Education (SBOE), as well as the enactment of school choice, are two ways to improve public schools in Texas. 

“The SBOE is critical in ensuring Texas public schools have the highest possible education standards, thus providing the framework for all schools to provide a great education,” Drogin, campaign director for TPPF's "Next Generation Texas" campaign, told Collin Times. “Equally important, the SBOE is responsible for ensuring the instructional materials used in our public education system are factual, understandable, and free from indoctrination.”

Drogin also said school choice would bring transparency into the school system. 

“Every parent deserves transparency into what their child is being taught and why it’s being taught, a high-quality education for their child, respect from the school as the parent and taxpayer, and the choice of the best education environment for their child,” she said. “School Choice is important because for far too long nearly 50% of Texas children haven’t been able to read on grade level and 60% can’t do math on grade level.”

“To be clear, that means that over 2.5 million children in our public school classrooms cannot read on grade level, and if you cannot read on grade level by the 3rd grade there is a 97% guarantee that a child will never catch up,” she said. 

Gov. Greg Abbott made passage of universal Educational Savings Accounts (ESA) a legislative priority in the most recent legislation, and though that effort fell short, Drogin said she's "highly confident" that Texas "could pass the nation’s largest ESA early in 2025."

While Drogin said the legislature, not the SBOE, will pass universal ESA’s in Texas, the SBOE in 2022 voted to approve legislative recommendations that opposed school choice. 

Fairview resident Pam Little, who represents District 12 on the SBOE, voted in favor of those legislative recommendations. She later voted to rescind the recommendations and now says she supports school choice.

Little’s opponent in the upcoming Republican primary runoff election, Jamie Kohlmann, is the former executive director of school choice group Texas Families First who also supports school choice. Kohlmann is supported by Texans for Educational Freedom and has been endorsed by the Texas Homes School Coalition.