Op-Eds

The Single Best Thing We Can do to Prevent a Generational Education Crisis

| March 15, 2021

The pandemic amplified disparities across the state — and can inspire long-term policy changes to finally achieve educational equity.

Pre-K: The Essential Pandemic Response

| January 14, 2021

There’s a New Reason to Preserve Early Childhood Investments

The 2020 Election Season is Finally Over — the Real Work Starts Now

| November 12, 2020

Higher political engagement across Texas could bring changes during the next legislative session, but one thing remains intact: Strong support for public education.

Smith: Texas Public Schools Need Our Help

| August 13, 2020

As Texas families ponder the beginning of the school year, they’re understandably mourning what they’re missing and frustrated with the options before them. COVID-19 has taken so many things away from us, and what we had hoped would be a short-lived challenge has turned into an ongoing nightmare.

Smith: The high stakes of being a third grader

Texas Tribune | May 13, 2019

Rather than dwelling on unproven, unpopular funding approaches based on a possibly flawed high-stakes test, the state should fund programs that use tools to benchmark and track student needs and growth.

Smith: There was a wave, and it was pro-public education

Texas Tribune | November 8, 2018

In preparation for the 2019 legislative session, we spent time traveling the state from Amarillo to El Paso, Lufkin to Lubbock. We visited educators who are asked to achieve higher standards and fulfill more mandates with budgets that seem to get more strapped every year.

Anthony: Tax-credit initiative is budgetary sleight of hand

Houston Chronicle - May 20, 2015 | May 20, 2015

Yet again, proponents of legislation creatively dubbed the "tax credit scholarship" (SB 4/HB 1043) continue the fancy footwork in attempts to persuade colleagues and taxpayers this proposal is not a school voucher. Given that the Texas Legislature has repeatedly and resoundingly rejected school vouchers, this gambit is not surprising. A "school voucher" is any scheme by which the state, directly or indirectly, diverts money from its coffers, or that it would otherwise collect in taxes, to subsidize private schools.