Accountability Without Justice: The Continuing Agenda to Demonize K-12 Public Schools to Set the Stage for Further Privatization

Accountability Without Justice: The Continuing Agenda to Demonize K-12 Public Schools to Set the Stage for Further Privatization

by

Angela Valenzuela

September 15, 2025

Students attend a math and reading workshop at a STAAR summer camp held at Dobie Middle School on July 23, 2025. Texas lawmakers are again trying to revamp the state's standardized test during this year's  special session. Photo credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune

After a grueling regular session and two special sessions, the Texas Legislature finally passed House Bill 8 (HB 8), birthing what they are calling the Student Success Tool—a revamped statewide assessment system set to roll out in the 2027–28 school year. The current STAAR contract remains in place through 2026–27, ensuring no immediate change. This is the story of progress that sidesteps transformation.

The new system shifts away from the single, high-stakes STAAR exam toward a series of three shorter tests administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the year in reading/language arts, math, science, and social studies, with a dedicated writing component. Only the end-of-year exam will count for accountability purposes (Houston Chronicle, 2025; Texas Tribune, 2025). The legislation also sets strict testing windows to reduce classroom disruption, limits the number of district benchmark exams, and guarantees parents access to results within 48 hours (Houston Chronicle, 2025; Good Reason Houston, 2025). It eliminates the English II end-of-course test, allows students to substitute qualifying scores from the SAT, ACT, AP, or IB in place of state tests, and mandates automated rescoring for certain writing responses (Raise Your Hand Texas, 2025). Additionally, the Texas Education Agency must define cut scores earlier and with greater transparency.

There are glimmers of relief here—less redundancy, faster feedback, and a nod toward flexibility. But they do not add up to the seismic shift advocates hoped for. HB 8 may reduce some burdens of testing, but it adds more high-stakes checkpoints and keeps the same fundamentally punitive system alive. As one major editorial put it, this is “not real reform—merely a rebranding of STAAR, expanded under a new label” (San Antonio Express-News, 2025). Educators continue to warn that the bill “overemphasizes high-stakes testing and punitive ratings… forcing teachers to teach to the test rather than focusing on critical thinking, creativity, and deeper learning” (Texas AFT, 2025). The so-called advisory committee on accountability, established under the bill, has also been criticized as underrepresentative and largely preordained to affirm TEA priorities, meaning community voices may not drive the process (Texas AFT, 2025).

Why, then, does this fetish for high-stakes testing persist, even as it fails our students and schools? One answer lies in the broader political narrative it enables. By repeatedly labeling public schools as “failing,” the system creates a crisis frame that makes it easier to justify diverting public dollars to charter schools, vouchers, and private alternatives. 

Indeed, in the very same session that produced HB 8, lawmakers advanced a $1 billion voucher plan, offering families up to $10,000 per student for private tuition. Critics note this policy disproportionately benefits wealthier families, lacks meaningful accountability, and threatens to drain already scarce funds from neighborhood public schools (Houston Chronicle, 2025; Texas Tribune, 2025). In this sense, HB 8’s surface-level reforms play into a broader agenda that demonizes public schools and sets the stage for privatization.

So, did public education advocacy organizations succeed? They secured incremental wins: less disruptive testing, faster feedback, cancellation of some exams, and improved transparency. Yet the core system endures. Schools are still judged primarily by test scores, accountability remains narrow, and meaningful change is postponed yet again.

References

Churchill, L., ProPublica, & Simani, E. (2025, Aug. 13). Some Texas private schools hire relatives and enrich insiders. Soon they can do it with taxpayer money, Texas Tribune.

Dey, S. (2025, Sept. 2). Texas is poised to replace STAAR. Here is what schools’ new standardized tests would look like, Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/02/texas-staar-standardized-test-accountability/?utm

Good Reason Houston. (2025, September 2). Texas Legislature passes HB 8, ushering in the next phase of assessment and accountability for Texas students. Good Reason Houston. https://goodreasonhouston.org/texas-legislature-passes-hb-8-ushering-in-the-next-phase-of-assessment-and-accountability-for-texas-students/

 

Houston Chronicle. (2025, August 13). Texas House passes $1 billion private school voucher plan. Houston Chronicle. https://link.houstonchronicle.com/public/39469102--

Raise Your Hand Texas. (2025, September 4). Statement on House Bill 8. Raise Your Hand Texas. https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/news-release/statement-house-bill-8/

San Antonio Express-News. (2025, August 27). Editorial: Expanded STAAR testing is not reform. San Antonio Express-News. https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/editorial/article/expanded-staar-testing-21017783.php

Texas AFT. (2025, August 28). Texas educators oppose woefully inadequate STAAR reform proposal. Texas AFT. https://www.texasaft.org/policy/testing/texas-educators-oppose-woefully-inadequate-staar-reform-proposal/