Decisions made by state-level officials have a profound impact on the quality of education the state provides to its students.
Key policies involve how education is funded, the curriculum teachers use, the types of instructional programs schools must offer and much more. Many policies and practices have led to inequitable educational opportunities for students.
Since its founding 51 years ago, IDRA has provided analysis and guidance to policymakers nationally while engaging with communities, educators and students on policy issues to ensure all students have access to equitable and excellent education.
Meet our policy team!
Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Policy
Celina Moreno, J.D., President & CEO
Morgan Craven, J.D., National Director of Policy, Advocacy and Community Engagement
Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., Chief Legal Analyst
Kaci Wright, Education Policy Fellow
Vivek Datla, MPA, Education Policy Fellow
Thomas Marshall III, M.Ed., Policy Communications Strategist
Isabelle Philip, Education Policy Fellow
Get Resources and Tools on our Five Priority Issues
Resources
IDRA Policy Digests 2025 (bilingual PDFs)
- Texas Must Secure Fair School Funding for All Students
- Texas Must Expand Excellent Education for Emergent Bilingual Students
- Texas Must Have Culturally-Sustaining Schools that Support All Students
- Texas Must Create Safe and Supportive Schools Without Harmful Discipline or Policing
- Texas Must Prepare All Students to Succeed in College
Tools
Policy Brief: Keep Public Funds in Texas Public Schools – Reject Harmful Private School Voucher Programs Invest In Public Education, Public Funds Public Schools, May 2023
Issue Brief: Identity-based Bullying in Texas Schools – Policy Recommendations – IDRA Issue Brief, by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., & Makiah Lyons, April 2023
Issue Brief: Hitting Hurts – The Case for Ending Corporal Punishment in Texas – IDRA Issue Brief, by Morgan Craven, J.D., April 2023
Issue Brief: How Texas Schools Are Funded – And Why that Matters to Collective Success – Issue Brief, By Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., August 2022
Video gallery: Student Testimony Against Classroom Censorship
Video gallery: Student Testimony Against Transgender Sports Exclusion Bills
Video gallery: IDRA Education Advocacy and Testimony
Alerts
IDRA Texas Education Policy Alert – January 17, 2025 • English • Spanish
Changing Policy
Bilingual Special Education Teacher Certification Will be Life-changing for Texas Students – Testimony before the Texas State Board for Educator Certification, presented by Dr. Lizdelia Piñón, IDRA Education Associate, December 6, 2024
Effective School Board Members Need Quality Trainings to Serve Their District Communities – IDRA Comments, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas State Board of Education, November 8, 2024
Proposed Changes Make Rules More Inclusive for Emergent Bilingual Students’ Program Participation, Recognition and Support – IDRA, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Education Agency, November 8, 2024
Amicus Brief: Little v. Llano County, September 11, 2024
High-Quality Bilingual Education in Pre-K to Third Grade is a Literacy Strategy – IDRA Testimony on Interim Charge: Early Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Committee on Public Education, August 13, 2024
Letter to Commissioner Morath on Charter Application Pathway for High-Performing Entities, August 2, 2024
Texas Gets Closer to Adopting a Bilingual Special Education Teacher Certificate, by Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D., June-July 2024
ACLU-TX 51 School Districts Remain in Violation of CROWN Act, July 24, 2024
SEAT Letter to Protect Title IX in Texas Schools, June 26, 2024
Sign-On Letter: Public Charter Transparency – Comments to the Texas Education Agency, April 2024
A Policy Agenda to Support Black Students, IDRA, February 2024
• Policy Comments, Testimony and Policy Updates in 2023 and 2022 and 2021 legislative sessions
Engaging Communities
IDRA partnered with other civil rights and educational equity organizations to demand that school districts immediately stop their anti-LGBTQ+ activities and policies.
- Keller ISD, August 10, 2023
- Keller ISD, November 21, 2022
- Frisco ISD, November 21, 2022
IDRA partnered with other civil rights and educational equity organizations to demand that school districts immediately return the books they had removed from its school library shelves. Most of the books focus on histories of racism and discrimination and the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
- Keller ISD (41 books), August 18, 2022
- Katy ISD (118 books), April 20, 2022
- North East ISD (414 books), April 20, 2022
- Klein ISD (67 books), April 20, 2022
- Granbury ISD (125 books), February 28, 2022
Texas Education CAFE Advocacy Network
Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC)
Communicating Effectively
Knowledge is Power is IDRA’s national resource for educators and advocates to help you do your work for equity and excellence in education in the midst of classroom censorship policies.
Students Tell Texas Attorney General that Racial Discrimination in School is Real – IDRA Applauds Students Speaking Out Against Texas’ New Classroom Censorship Law (Español), September 29, 2021
88 public school students described their experiences with racial discrimination in school
