Texas Public Schools Under Fire

Texas Public Schools Under Fire

August 14, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges facing Texas public schools, including closures and the impact of a new voucher program.

In this episode of Texas Take, Gov. Greg Abbott brushes off questions about the 170 public school campuses that have been shuttered or are on the way to closing since 2023. Plus, now that he has his voucher plan in place, what’s he doing to improve public schools? Host Jeremy Wallace examines that and other big issues facing Texas schools as students head back to class. Houston Chronicle politics reporter Isaac Yu explains the growing role of religion in classrooms, while Carrie Griffith, executive director of Our Schools Our Democracy, discusses declining enrollment, school closures and the impact of charter schools. Houston Chronicle reporter Lawrence Mower joins to break down the rollout of Texas’ new private school voucher program and what it could mean for public education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Jeremy Wallace

Guests: Isaac Yu, Carrie Griffith, Lawrence Mower

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Our Schools Our Democracy, Houston Chronicle

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