Texas TransformED rolled out a school reform package timed to a week when lawmakers and policy groups were converging on Austin — founder Robbye Kirkpatrick had meetings with legislators scheduled for Tuesday, a day before TPPF’s Texas Policy Summit opened.
The package covers six areas: a comprehensive review of the school funding formula, more options for financing facilities, tighter financial accountability for school-related entities, restructured K-8 English Language Arts and Reading instruction, a statewide transparency platform, and incentives to attract and retain strong teachers. The “Million Word Miracle” gets the most detail — splitting ELAR into separate reading and writing/public-speaking courses, requiring grades 3-8 to read a million words a year, and putting more weight on handwriting, grammar, spelling, logic, structure, and multi-draft writing.
On finance, the group wants spending reviewed across special education, construction, procurement, and administration, alternatives to property-tax-based funding, and a public data platform organized around reading, math, graduate readiness, and financial efficiency. Facilities financing would open up to public-private partnerships and other long-term arrangements, with tougher scrutiny of construction waste and delays, plus stronger enforcement tools for financial misconduct involving districts, charters, service centers, vendors, and consultants.
The framing argument is the gap between the state’s economy and its academic results. The article cites TEA’s 2025 annual report placing Texas 44th nationally in eighth-grade reading and 34th in eighth-grade math on the 2024 NAEP, though it also notes a Dallas Fed analysis from August 2025 finding Texas looks considerably better after demographic adjustment.