On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) appointed Mike Morath as commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Morath has served as a trustee of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) since 2011.
The following statements from education policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Jim Lakely, director of communications, at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.
“I applaud the appointment of an education reformer as commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. Mr. Morath has a track record of focusing education on the children and implementing changes needed by a system that is failing them. This student focus has increased parental choice and improved graduation rates, test scores, and the lives of many children in DISD. There is much education reform work for Mr. Morath at the state level. I hope he will continue to focus on the students, expanding full education choice across the state of Texas as the new commissioner of TEA.”
Lennie Jarratt
Project Manager, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The official press release touts Governor Abbott’s new education commissioner, Mike Morath, as a ‘change-agent.’ As the procession of failed fads in education should have taught us all by now, not all change is positive. Will Morath seek changes that empower families, or changes that entrench the latest enthusiasms of the establishment? His track record to date is mixed, but hopes for him will be high as he takes on this new challenge.”
Robert G. Holland
Senior Fellow, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“Mike Morath has accomplished quite a bit in his time on the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees. I hope he will continue this quality stewardship as commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. If he does so, Lone Star State schoolchildren will be in very capable hands and the direct beneficiaries of this appointment. Kudos to Governor Abbott for this fine selection.”
Tim Benson
Policy Analyst
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
The Heartland Institute is a 31-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
Lennie Jarratt is the former director of the Center for Education Opportunities at The Heartland Institute
Robert Holland, a journalist and author who has championed school choice throughout his career, is a Heartland Institute Senior Fellow addressing education policy.
Tim Benson joined The Heartland Institute in September 2015 as a policy analyst in the Government Relations Department.
