On April 7, the State Board of Education is set to give its final approval to new Social Studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), a much-needed reform to the standards that determine what educators teach. Here’s what you need to know: The current Social Studies TEKS are profoundly inadequate. The flaws of the K-8...
Texas’ education system is not merely inefficient. It is structurally tilted to benefit insiders at the public’s expense, according to an explosive new report. The root of the problem is the Education Cartel—a network of consultants, vendors, and taxpayer-funded lobbyists who profit from ever-expanding school bond debt and bureaucratic growth. This system has helped drive...
Texas local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to influence state legislation—creating conflicts of interest, distorting democratic accountability, and undermining the interests of Texas taxpayers. Key points: Taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures more than doubled from the 85th to the 89th Legislature, now reaching as high as $111.5 million. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property...