Jorge Borrego is a Post-Secondary Education Policy Analyst for the Next Generation Texas initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Borrego was a Legislative Director at the Texas House of Representatives. He also worked in the Nonprofit Sector, working for the Down Syndrome Association of Brazos Valley. Where he worked as an Event Coordinator, Data Administrator, and Policy Administrator. He is currently serving as the Treasurer on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Is my kid doing OK in school? This simple question should not require a degree in data science. When a mom or dad asks whether their child is on track in reading and math, the answer should be one click away. In Texas, it is not. Key facts are scattered across state portals and long...
In 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proved that the College Board has a political agenda. Pointing to an AP course on Black history for high schoolers, Gov. DeSantis showed the course taught topics of queer theory and the abolition of prisons, two ideas that both contradict state law and the intention of a course on...
Higher education is losing its luster. Once a beacon of opportunity, the traditional four-year degree has seen a steep decline in public confidence, dropping from 60% of Americans expressing strong faith in 2015 to just 36% in 2024. Young men, in particular, are opting out, with only 41% of high school-educated men aged 18–24 enrolling...
For the first time in years, Texas parents finally have access to the truth about how their schools are performing. After years of legal challenges and strategic delays by the very school districts that were being graded, the Texas Education Agency has released long-overdue school accountability ratings. This is more than just a policy update—it’s...
Every year around late April, I start receiving graduation announcements from friends and family across Texas. I love seeing these photos—proud parents beaming with joy, celebrating the accomplishments of their kids. It’s a special moment. But every one of those announcements brings a pit to my stomach. Because behind the caps and gowns, behind the...
We all know that if you have something valuable, you need to protect it. We lock our houses when we’re away, and we put especially valuable items in safes. But it turns out that we’ve left the safe open and the door unlocked for one of the most important institutions in our state: the education...
School districts, the Democrat Party, and far-left advocacy groups have called for a radical change in the way we fund our public schools. Currently, school districts are funded based on the average number of students who show up each day in a school year, a system called average daily attendance or ADA. But some on...
Why is Round Rock ISD refusing to turnover information regarding the procurement process for a lucrative multi-million dollar contract? That’s a question the school district doesn’t want to answer. The district recently approved a job order contract worth at least $5 million. A job order contract is a method of procurement for work that is...
Competition is a part of the American spirit and inseparable from Texas culture. Few things are more enjoyable than watching the two opposing sides battle it out to beat the other. No other time of year captures the spirit of competition better than fall. Between football and the Major League Baseball playoffs, seemingly every day...
Houston ISD is refusing to turn over documents that would help explain how it spent nearly $9 million relating to the development of the district’s massive $4.4 billion bond proposal. The documents would shed light on critical questions unanswered, such as the specifics of the contracts involved and whether the bidding process was competitive. Earlier...
Steve Allison, an outgoing Republican state lawmaker, ramped up the school funding debate earlier this month with a commentary in the Express-News, “Abbott duty bound to call special session on school funding” (June 9). Are Texas schools actually underfunded? Let’s look at the reality. Texas taxpayers give enormous amounts of money to public schools. According to...
Governor Greg Abbott recently sent a message to the thirty-nine Democrats requesting a special session to address education “budget shortfalls.” “To be clear, there are several reasons why some public schools are facing budget shortfalls,” Gov. Abbott told the Democrats. He cited the end of one-time COVID-related federal funding and decreasing enrollment as significant contributors. And...