The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) today announced a comprehensive education policy agenda for K-12 and higher education designed to expand education freedom, improve student outcomes, strengthen transparency and accountability, and restore academic excellence across Texas.
“The policy agenda for TPPF’s Next Generation Texas campaign advances policies that put parents first, ensure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, and refocus schools and universities on delivering real results for students,” said NGT Policy Analyst Kate Bierly.
At the K-12 level, the agenda prioritizes expanding Education Freedom Accounts to increase the number of Texas families who can access the educational options that best meet their children’s needs. It also calls for clearer accountability and transparency through reforms that make student performance, spending, and outcomes easier for parents and taxpayers to understand, while ensuring school trustees have full access to district financial records and procurement documents.
The campaign also proposes major reforms to teacher preparation. These include shifting training away from abstract educational theory and toward practical classroom skills, recognizing real-world experience as a qualification for education leadership roles, and replacing ineffective university schools of education with high-quality, alternative certification programs focused on results.
“This policy agenda builds on the hard work of the Legislature and the State Board of Education to ensure that every step of the education system is oriented towards providing high quality instruction to students,” said NGT Education Director Matthew McCormick.
“Texas has an opportunity to lead the nation in education reform by embracing bold, student-focused policies,” said Bierly. “I look forward to pursuing an agenda that delivers better transparency, higher-quality curriculum, better-prepared teachers, and more engaged parents—because those are the key components of improving education outcomes and ensuring every Texas student has the opportunity to succeed.”
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Next Generation Texas Policy Agenda
Increase funding for educational savings accounts: Expand upon 2025 success by increasing the program’s capacity.
Trustee Transparency and Oversight Act: Guarantees school trustees unrestricted access to district financial records and procurement documents to ensure oversight and fiduciary accountability.
Bring Real Accountability to Texas Schools: Ensure Texas schools are held to clear, outcomes-based standards by making student performance, spending, and results transparent
Giving Aspiring Teachers Real Prep: Reforms teacher preparation programs to emphasize practical teaching skills rather than just educational theory.
Work-Based Learning: A Future for All Students: Expands flexibility for high schools to use Career and Technology Education funds to support paid apprenticeships through community partnerships and non-profit intermediaries.
Simplifying the Public School Finance Formula: Seeks to simplify Texas’ overly complex public school funding formula to improve transparency for parents and lawmakers.
Bring Home the Mississippi Miracle: Implement mandatory reading benchmarks from kindergarten to third grade to improve literacy rates.
Experience Matters Act: Recognize proven experience and skills as valid qualifications for state and education leadership roles, reducing unnecessary degree requirements that limit opportunity and talent.
Physical Fitness Requirements for K-12: Proposes stricter PE standards and daily fitness requirements in K-12 to address health and discipline.
Accreditation Commission: Establishes a Texas Higher Education Accreditation Commission to approve accrediting agencies based on student outcomes, with institutions losing funding if they fail to switch from underperforming accreditors.
Allow Military Experience to Substitute for a Bachelor’s Degree in State Jobs: Allows veterans’ military service to qualify in place of a college degree for Texas state jobs (excluding licensed professions), helping solve state labor shortages.
Close Down Schools of Education and Recommend Best Alternative Teacher Certification Track: Proposes eliminating university schools of education, which are seen as centers of ideological activism and poor teacher preparation, and replacing them with charter-style alternative certification programs.
Safe Schools and Fair Standards: Revises the legal definition of harassment in higher education to match Supreme Court precedent and protect campus free speech.
Contextualized Transcripts: Requires college transcripts to include class average grades alongside student grades to counter grade inflation and improve workforce competitiveness.
General Education Act: Mandates a core curriculum in Western civilization, civics, and liberal education principles for public universities, restoring foundational knowledge in higher education.
The Campus Intellectual Diversity Act: Requires public universities to host and publicly document regular, balanced debates on major public policy issues—while empowering student groups to request topics and preventing security costs from being used to suppress disfavored viewpoints.