Current Problems & Solutions
Issues
Solutions
Computer use: According to CNN, approximately 88% of public schools now provide each student with a digital device, and nearly 90% use one-to-one laptop or tablet models. While these tools have reshaped classroom instruction since the COVID-19 pandemic, research suggests excessive computer use can lower test performance, shorten attention spans, and increase mental fatigue. Unrestricted access may also distract students from schoolwork through video games or inappropriate content.
College Work: Approximatley 40% of first-year college students do not meet college-readiness standards and are placed in remedial, non-credit courses. Students who fall below these standards often struggle in freshman-level math and English, while developmental classes add costs without counting toward a degree.
- Curriculum distortions: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with hundreds of others, appeared before the SBOE after a proposal called for public school students to learn that “radical Islam” motivated the 9/11 attacks. Some SBOE members supported modern lesson plans that include the perspectives of Muslim and Sikh Americans and connect those perspectives to the rise in discrimination and hate crimes after the attacks.
- State-led Interventions: About 15% of Texas schools receive below a “C” rating on state report cards issued by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Campus grades can vary widely, even within districts that earn an overall C rating. State-led interventions, including the takeover of Fort Worth ISD, have prompted pushback from parents and teachers over rigid schedules, surveillance cameras, and the perceived loss of local community voice.
Neuroscience research shows that children understand and remember reading material better in print than on digital screens. Handwriting also strengthens learning by activating brain regions that typing does not engage, helping students retain information longer than laptop note-taking. When classroom lessons are reduced to online forms and repetitive clicks, students lose opportunities for meaningful discussion, curiosity, creativity, and deep thinking. The SBOE should require schools to reassess and reduce their reliance on technology.
K–12 schools should better prepare students for college-level work to reduce the need for remedial, non-credit courses in math and English. This includes reconsidering Advanced Placement (AP) offerings that have generated debate over how history, race, and social issues are taught. For instance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and congressional leaders such as Virginia Foxx criticized drafts of the curriculum as “woke indoctrination” and “leftist politics.” Schools should also align the TEKS and expand dual-credit opportunities so at least half of high school students experience college-level rigor before graduation.
As of 2026, about 35 states do not legally require public schools to teach about 9/11, leaving individual teachers to decide whether or how the event is discussed or commemorated. When educational materials distort historical truth, they weaken students’ ability to learn and think critically. Some board members attempted to reshape history to support a political viewpoint, delaying the Texas social studies TEKS by nearly four years. Primary sources show that the proposal shifted attention away from the tragedy itself and the heroism shown by Americans.
Under a 2015 law associated with House Bill 1842, the commissioner may take over a school district. Texas law should be amended so that the elected SBOE, whose members each represent approximately 1.8 million people, determines whether any school district is taken over.