Gov. Greg Abbott proposed prohibiting Texas public schools from accepting foreign funding and banning them from employing H-1B visa workers at a press conference on Tuesday, August 18.<\/p>\n
Abbott, who is seeking re-election in November, has made education a focal point in his campaign. In his remarks<\/a>, he stated that his goal was to put Texas \u201con the pathway to ranking #1 in educating our children,\u201d touted record education funding<\/a> levels in 2025, and praised the teacher incentive allotment<\/a> program.<\/p>\n Education is important, according to Abbott, because \u201cthe minds of our students are shaped by influences that they are exposed to in our public schools.\u201d The governor added that those minds and the Texas education system risk \u201cbeing compromised by foreign influence,\u201d which necessitated the proposals he announced.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas classrooms should be a safe place for students to learn, grow, and succeed, not a place for foreign entities to indoctrinate young Texans,\u201d he said. \u201cThere should be zero foreign influence in the education of our children. My proposal will shut the door on foreign money, materials, and partnerships in our K\u201312 schools.\u201d<\/p>\n The first of the governor\u2019s proposals would prohibit Texas public schools<\/a> \u201cfrom accepting gifts or entering into partnerships or other financial arrangements with foreign governments and the entities they own, fund, or act through.\u201d Abbott specifically cited the Austin Independent School District\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0(ISD)\u00a0Arabic language program, whose funding is tied to Qatar<\/a>. He also mentioned Chinese government-connected<\/a> Confucius Institutes present within Texas.<\/p>\n Abbott was joined by two members of the Texas Public Policy Foundation: Sam Westrop, a senior fellow, and Kate Bierly, Next Generation Texas campaign director.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cForeign adversaries understand that one of the most powerful ways to influence a country is not through force, but through soft power,\u201d Bierly told The Texan in a statement. \u201cThey shape what children learn, what they believe, and how they understand America. When foreign governments or organizations fund curriculum, teacher training, or educational programs, they can gain access to our classrooms and influence children at an incredibly formative age.\u201d<\/p>\n Bierly added that \u201c[Texas] schools should be places where [the] children learn the truth, not places where foreign interests get to shape what they think. I am grateful to Governor Abbott for recognizing this threat and taking action to protect Texas classrooms, Texas families, and the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbott\u2019s other proposal was to forbid Texas public schools from employing H-1B visa holders<\/a>. In his words, \u201cExactly zero Texas public school employees should be here on H-1B visas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to The Houston Chronicle, as of 2025<\/a>, Texas public schools employ about 500 H-1B visa holders, nearly half of whom<\/a> are working for Dallas (ISD). This follows a freeze on hiring<\/a> H-1B visa holders in state agencies and universities that Abbott enacted in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n The escalation came because, according to the governor, the federal government failed to put \u201climits on who can come in under H-1Bs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to find Texans or Americans who can educate our students. Period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If the Legislature assents, Texas would become the first state to ban H-1B visa holders from working in its public education system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Greg Abbott proposed prohibiting Texas public schools from accepting foreign funding and banning them from employing H-1B…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,17882,133,9047,143692,19208,163,392,61586,1724,143693,30103,133823,20870],"class_list":["post-411617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-independent-school-district","tag-austin-news","tag-china","tag-confucius-institutes","tag-dallas-independent-school-district","tag-education","tag-greg-abbott","tag-h-1b-visa","tag-immigration","tag-kate-bierly","tag-qatar","tag-sam-westrop","tag-texas-public-policy-foundation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}