Texas Launches Teacher-Led Classroom Commission

Fort Worth, TX —

Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday launched the Texas Classroom Commission, a new teacher-led initiative intended to put Texas educators at the center of shaping the future of public education. The commission will develop practical, classroom-informed recommendations to strengthen student achievement and help the state become the top-ranked in the nation for educating children.

The commission builds on public-education investments secured in recent legislative sessions by Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dustin Burrows, and the Texas Legislature. It will bring together exemplary public school educators from across Texas to identify solutions that help students succeed, improve the learning environment, and support teachers.

Recommendations will be delivered to the Governor, the Texas Education Agency, and the Legislature ahead of the 90th Legislative Session.

"Texas teachers know what their students need to succeed," Abbott said. "The Texas Classroom Commission will bring together exemplary public school educators to identify innovative solutions that help students succeed, improve the learning environment in classrooms, and strengthen our schools."

Patrick said teachers are the most influential figures in a child's development after parents, and pointed to recent raises and added classroom resources as steps the state has taken to empower them. Burrows noted the last session's permanent teacher pay raises and expanded funding for the Teacher Incentive Allotment as a foundation for the commission's work.

The commission will be led by Courtney Boswell MacDonald of Kerrville, a former classroom teacher and current chair of the State Board for Educator Certification. It will consist of current and retired public school classroom teachers and will begin its work in the coming weeks, with recommendations due before the next legislative session.

a city of more than 1 million residents and the largest in North Texas by land area — the initiative arrives as North Texas school districts continue to absorb record state funding and permanent pay raises approved in the last session, changes that local administrators say are reshaping how classrooms across the region are staffed and supported.

Sources

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-launches-texas-classroom-commission