Will Lawmakers Pass Soviet-Style Education as New Mission for Texas Schools?
By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. | March 20, 2017 Texas Insider Education Views
A bill recently filed for the Texas 85th legislative session, HB 136, proposes to add a new mission to the Texas Education Code:
- OBJECTIVE 11: The State Board of Education, the agency, and the commissioner shall assist school districts and charter schools in providing career and technology education and effective workforce training opportunities to students.
This bill, if passed, will dramatically transform the primary purpose of Texas public education from academic learning to workforce training for the supplying of workers for businesses. Education will no longer be focused on providing a well-rounded education so the individual can adapt to the inevitable changes in the workplace.
The 84th Texas Legislature House Bill 2804 created the Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability (NGAA) to prepare recommendations for statutory changes for the student assessment and public school accountability programs. An analysis finds that if these recommendations are implemented, Texas curriculum standards will be Common Core-compliant, placing Texas on the road to National Assessments. 
In 1996 the Telecommunications Act was enacted to provide subsidies for schools to access broadband service through the Schools and Libraries program, also known as the E-rate program. After spending more than $40 billion of taxpayers’ money, the program is just another big government fiasco.
The Texas House Committee on Public Education wants to utilize high-tech digital learning to improve student achievement and fulfill future workforce demands. The popular notion is that students need computer time to compete in the 21st century. 
For the past tumultuous year and a half, the Texas English language arts and reading (ELAR) curriculum standards (TEKS) have been under review – actually rewritten rather than reviewed as the panel was instructed.