AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott met with the newly appointed Texas Classroom Commission on Monday to discuss its mission of helping guide the legislature in improving the state’s education policies.

The governor touted his goal of making Texas the number one-ranked state in the country for educating students.

“Already before today, we’ve taken action to be able to achieve that goal,” Abbott said, referring to the state’s $8 billion investment in schools during the last legislative session and the Teacher Incentive Allotment designed to recruit and retain qualified teachers.

The 22-member commission consists of current and former educators from school districts across Texas. Courtney Boswell MacDonald, a former teacher from Kerrville, serves as chair of the commission. She also currently serves as the chair of the State Board for Educator Certification.

“I am grateful to have the support of our governor, who shares a strong commitment to standing with and investing in our state’s educators, and I look forward to this work,” MacDonald said Monday.

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Abbott said the commission is tasked with exploring strategies to improve student performance, teacher retention and to limit screentime in classrooms.

Texas AFT President Zeph Capo said he is skeptical that the commission will result in impactful policy changes.

“They don’t bother to actually listen to us, and they’re too often doing things to us rather than with us,” Capo said.

He argued teacher base pay needs to be improved in Texas, along with working conditions for public school teachers.

According to data from the Nation’s Report Card in 2024, Texas eighth graders ranked 34th in the country in math scores and 44th in the country in reading scores. Meanwhile, fourth graders in Texas ranked 8th in the country in math and 38th in the country in reading.

“Frankly, the only reason that we are in the 30s or 40s is that a lot of the hard work that career teachers have done year over year, despite the conditions under which they work,” Capo said, suggesting the rankings could be worse without the state’s teacher workforce.

Abbott said the core focus of the commission is to improve math and reading proficiency in the state.

“A key part of being able to achieve that goal is to be able to attract and to retain the best teachers who will educate those students,” Abbott said.

The commission is set to meet monthly and will issue a report to lawmakers ahead of the 90th Legislative Session, which begins in January.