Don’t Ruin College Sports
What to know: College athletic programs are “in crisis now,” Sen. Ted Cruz contends: “Nobody wants to see a handful of super schools with unlimited cash, all the best athletes and nobody else even able to survive,” he says.
The TPPF take: Congress can step in and save college athletic programs.
“College sports aren’t just games,” says TPPF board member and Texas Tech University Regent Cody Campbell. “They’re a lifeline for countless young people who otherwise would never have had a pathway out of the hardships of their upbringing. But today, the lifeline of college sports is on life support. What started as an amateur dream is now a multibillion-dollar beast, and the big dogs — the SEC, Big Ten, and to a lesser extent the Big 12 and the ACC, the Autonomy Four — are ready to rip it apart.”
For more on the NCAA and college sports, click here.
Grade Inflation is Bad, Too
What to know: Grade inflation has moved from public k-12 schools and into higher education.
The TPPF take: College grade inflation is undermining workforce competitiveness.
“This isn’t a sign of smarter students or better teaching—it’s a collapse of standards,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “Grade point averages (GPAs) at public universities have climbed from 2.7 in the 1960s to 3.2 by 2023, according to a 2024 report, even as student effort has plummeted from 24 study hours per week in 1961 to 14 in 2022. This inflation poisons the academic ecosystem.”
For more on grade inflation, click here.
Confidence!
What to know: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he’s confident the Legislature will empower parents with school choice in early April.
The TPPF take: Now is the time to empower Texas families with a universal school choice program.
“In Texas, our public schools are still assigned based on a child’s address, which are still highly segregated along socio-economic and racial lines,” writes TPPF’s Mandy Drogin. “School choice removes those artificial boundaries and allows parents to make the decision about what is best for their child. School choice breaks down institutional barriers, like zoning, and lifts up the students stuck in bad schools.”
For more on school choice, watch this.