CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Conversations have sparked over State Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Mineral Wells, intent to file legislation that will eliminate the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Currently, Texas are not in a legislative session, so this will not be proposed until the next one in 2025.
This comes during the height of a primary election where education reform has been a significant topic of discussion.
Rogers cited concerns over standardized testing and budget increases. The TEA is responsible for overseeing primary and secondary public education in Texas. It oversees standardized testing programs, such as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), uphold district accountability and provide state and federal funding.
"While I agree that we should eliminate the federal Department of Education, I think we must look also to our own state and confront the bloated and dangerous bureaucracy that we are allowing to grow right under our noses. It is time to disband the Texas Education Agency before it destroys education in this state," Rogers released in a statement.
Rogers' intent to dismantle the TEA has also raised questions about the future of the education system and it's oversight within Texas. He and other statewide lawmakers believe that the agency's focus on testing programs and its budget increase are misdirected.
Rogers also said that within the past decade, the budget of the Texas Education Agency has increased by 39%. The agency has grown from 826 full-time employees to a staggering 1157 as of the new budget.
This is not the first time the TEA has been at the center of controversy.
Last August, several Texas school districts filed a lawsuit alleging that the TEA had unfairly changed the rubric for their accountability system. It redesigns state testing, requires higher scores and includes a new accountability system that several school districts say are unreasonable, including Kingsville Independent School District, the catalyst for the lawsuit. The district's superintendent, along with several others, believe the changes will be too drastic and will hurt the future of the students.
In October, a judge granted a temporary injunction to block the change.
Against Rogers' intent to propose the TEA's demise, Nancy Vera, the president of the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers said she doesn't believe the TEA should be completely dismantled, but it should be reconstructed to fit the needs of every student across the state of Texas.
"The TEA needs to be reformed. With that, we agree," Vera said. "Does it need to be destroyed altogether? No. I think that we have to figure out who is going to be implementing and who is going to be the oversight in terms of education law," Vera said. "We need school districts to allow parents and the community to make decisions and we're not doing that. We're relying too much on TEA. It takes all of us to make this work."
Representative Rogers said that he is open to receiving the input parents, grandparents, teachers, retired educators and legislators to understand how the state can move forward with prioritizing childrens education.
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