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Our Priorities

Texans for Education Reform (TER) is a bipartisan, non-profit organization of education, business, and civic leaders committed to improving public schools in Texas.  TER advocates proven educational strategies and policies that focus on students first and yield measurable results so that every Texas student has access to a high performing public school.

Our mission is to assure that no Texas child – regardless of race, ethnicity or zip code – is forced to attend a failing public school.  Currently 147,769 Texas public students are trapped in 297 campuses that have been failing for two or more consecutive years.

TER supports policies that provide parents, local communities, and the state with the transparency and solutions they need to improve chronically failing public schools including:

  • A-F School Ratings: Rates each public school campus on an A-F standard that parents and the entire community can easily understand.
  • Parent Empowerment: Strengthens Texas’ current parent empowerment law by shortening the current wait period from five to two consecutive years of school failure, allowing parents to petition to intervene in their child’s chronically failing public school in time to bring meaningful change.
  • Local Control School District: Makes it easier for school districts to innovate at the local level by streamlining and clarifying current state law on local control.
  • Opportunity School District: Establishes a special statewide school district - an “Opportunity School District” - to turn around and improve chronically failing public schools.

Invest in the best teachers and teaching policies to improve student learning.

  • Teacher Evaluation & Development: Improves the state’s teacher development policies by providing an annual evaluation and meaningful feedback focused on improving student educational growth.  Creates and supports customized professional development opportunities for individual teachers and allows school districts to develop compensation policies that reward excellent teachers.

Make high performing public school options available to every Texas family.

  • Student Transfers & Transportation: Affirms a parent’s right to request a transfer to any public school in their school district.  Provides every parent the information they need regarding public school options and funds districts to provide transportation to enable student transfers.

Implement proven education technologies and teaching innovations.

  • Course Access & Digital Learning: Increases the access of all Texas students to approved online courses and programs.

Establish the Commission on Next Generation on Assessments and Accountability

  • Assessments and Accountability: Creates the Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability to study, develop, and make recommendations for new systems of student assessments and public school accountability.

TER also supports the following legislation which furthers our mission to assure that every Texas child has access to a high performing public school and that no Texas child – regardless of race, ethnicity or zip code – is forced to attend a failing public school:

  • Charter Facilities Funding
  • High-quality Pre-Kindergarten Education
  • Expanding Blended Learning
  • Providing public school students tutorials through the state virtual school network for end-of-course assessment instruments required for graduation