{"id":453565,"date":"2026-10-01T20:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453565\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:54:11","slug":"how-mike-moraths-agency-linked-texas-schools-to-alphas-ai-tool-propublica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453565\/","title":{"rendered":"How Mike Morath\u2019s Agency Linked Texas Schools to Alpha\u2019s AI Tool \u2014 ProPublica"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little-known effort to bring an artificial intelligence tool into Texas public schools began about a year ago, with the help of the state\u2019s top education official, Mike Morath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In September 2025, Morath responded to an email from associates of a private school chain called Alpha School who wanted to talk about using their AI program to educate kids in Texas classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to schedule a follow-up discussion,\u201d Morath replied.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The online platform wasn\u2019t new to Morath, the state\u2019s education commissioner. Just three months earlier, he had supported Alpha leaders\u2019 bid to open a charter school in Texas that would use the same technology. Then the Texas State Board of Education, which has the final say on such charter decisions, voted it down 10 to 3. Board members cited concerns about the company\u2019s use of AI to teach and students\u2019 screen time, as well as lingering questions about the drastic student test improvements Alpha leaders presented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Morath and his agency leaders did not need the board\u2019s approval to help get Alpha\u2019s AI model into public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the last year, Morath and his staff at the Texas Education Agency exchanged a flurry of emails with leaders of companies connected to Alpha about possible partnerships, visited their campuses several times, helped with a one-page explainer about the program to share with school districts and connected them with district leaders, according to communications obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune through public information requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One email revealed that Morath offered to personally introduce an Alpha leader to the superintendent he appointed to lead the yearslong state takeover of Houston Independent School District, the largest in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d also like to set up another site visit to visit both your Austin secondary and primary with my team,\u201d wrote Morath. \u201cThe Superintendent of H.I.S.D. would also like to do a site visit, so l\u2019ll connect y\u2019all separately. And hopefully we can schedule them to happen on the same day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The emails show that state education officials and Alpha affiliates approached at least 10 school districts about the AI program. After the coordination, at least three of those districts \u2014 Houston; Fort Davis, in West Texas; and Aldine, near Houston \u2014 launched pilot programs incorporating the AI tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The full extent of Morath and his agency\u2019s involvement, as well as the number of public school districts using the AI program, remains unclear. The TEA has not responded to questions about its efforts for months, initially failed to provide some of Morath\u2019s emails in response to public information requests and continues fighting the release of additional communications.<\/p>\n

The TEA sent a written statement that said \u201cthere is no formal partnership between TEA and Alpha Schools.\u201d But the agency continued that it \u201cis always interested in promising ways to improve student outcomes in math and reading.\u201d The statement said TEA officials connected district leaders who were interested in Alpha\u2019s program but left the decision up to them on whether to use it.<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotMorath emailed MacKenzie Price, the co-founder of Alpha School, and her husband, Andy Price, last year. Obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Highlighted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n

Aldine and Fort Davis leaders told the newsrooms it was not unusual for the state agency to recommend potential partnerships and expressed excitement about the pilot. All three districts with pilot programs said they will use the AI software for supplemental learning rather than fully implementing the Alpha School model of using it to teach all students basic subjects in two hours a day while the human teachers, which Alpha calls guides, focus on motivation and emotional support.<\/p>\n

Some education experts and State Board of Education members who voted against Alpha leaders\u2019 attempt to open a charter school last year raised concerns with the state\u2019s efforts to use the AI-led platform given its recent track record.<\/p>\n

ProPublica and the Tribune recently reported<\/a> that Texas was among at least nine states that rejected Alpha leaders\u2019 applications to open publicly funded charter schools that would use its AI-driven learning tool, according to an Instagram post<\/a> from the company\u2019s co-founder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The newsrooms also found that students performed significantly worse on state-mandated exams than Alpha leaders predicted at the one charter school they got approved, in Arizona, and at an existing school in Texas where students used the AI program last year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morath\u2019s agency knew about results in at least one of those charters, Texas Preparatory School in Austin. Last year, state test scores compiled by his agency showed just 21% of students passed. The TEA then gave the charter its third consecutive F rating, mostly based on those scores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

David DeMatthews, an education professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said it was \u201cdisheartening\u201d and \u201cpainful\u201d to learn that the TEA was promoting the product when the company has not yet publicly shown its success in public or charter schools, where there are likely to be more students who have learning barriers or struggle academically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat raises questions about whether TEA is serving its public interest and is being transparent and accountable to us,\u201d DeMatthews said. \u201cIt\u2019d be one thing if they were approved as a charter and they did have a track record and they could show evidence. We don\u2019t have any of those sorts of things.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The platform\u2019s expansion into traditional public schools comes as government officials across the country, including in Texas, have taken an increasingly skeptical view of AI use in schools. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently banned generative AI<\/a> for elementary and middle school students in the nation\u2019s largest school district. Leaders in Los Angeles implemented a similar restriction<\/a>. In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proposed further limiting screen time<\/a> in public schools.<\/p>\n

Abbott, who has received over $1.5 million in political donations from Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price, did not agree to an interview or directly answer whether he supports the AI platform in Texas schools.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA great teacher in the classroom is the most important element of a quality education,\u201d Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott\u2019s press secretary, wrote in a statement to the newsrooms. \u201cAny tool a district deploys must keep teachers at the center of the classroom, limit unnecessary screen time, and prove results for students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s Democratic opponent in the November governor\u2019s race, Gina Hinojosa, recently had a press conference opposing the use of Alpha\u2019s AI program in Houston ISD. That came after she\u2019d already made a campaign promise to fire Morath if she is elected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alpha leaders did not agree to interviews or answer detailed questions for this story. Price has repeatedly told her social media followers<\/a> that she wants to bring the AI model into public schools to make it accessible<\/a> for all families. School leaders previously defended the model in interviews and directly in response to Texas Education Board members\u2019 concerns about the proposed charter. They maintained that teachers\u2019 roles remain significant despite lessons delivered by the AI platform and that screen time at the school would comply with national recommendations, and they referred to a self-published paper summarizing<\/a> that Alpha students learn twice as fast as their peers while earning test scores among the top echelon nationwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tTexas\u2019 education landscape is changing. Help our reporters understand what\u2019s happening across the state.<\/p>\n

Pam Little, a Republican serving as vice chair of the elected State Board of Education, said she hopes Abbott\u2019s proposal to limit screen time in public schools leads to the removal of screens in classrooms altogether. That includes eliminating pilot programs like those using Alpha\u2019s AI platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want anything AI in our schools, especially at the lower grades,\u201d said Little, who last year voted against the proposed charter, which would use Alpha\u2019s AI platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gustavo Reveles, a Democratic Education Board member who voted against Alpha leaders\u2019 charter application last summer, said he\u2019s worried the TEA is ignoring the board\u2019s apprehension by helping to bring Alpha\u2019s AI tool into public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly raises a red flag that perhaps there\u2019s ways to circumvent that concern,\u201d Reveles said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pilot Program Planning<\/p>\n

\"PeopleU.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Alpha School co-founder MacKenzie Price and Morath participated in a roundtable at an Alpha School campus in Austin in September 2025. Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Last fall, local television news cameras captured Morath alongside U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon as the pair visited an Alpha campus in Austin. Joining them was Price, the school\u2019s co-founder. Morath said that day<\/a>, \u201cOur goal is to make sure that children have access to great schools,\u201d regardless of who runs them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThere are lessons to be learned in a school like Alpha.\u201c<\/p>\n

That week, Morath emailed Price and her husband, Andy Price, who business filings show holds various roles at Alpha\u2019s related companies, including chief financial officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morath also connected with an employee from Studient, a company that uses Alpha\u2019s AI technology, now often called TimeBack<\/a>. Studient, which uses the tool for students struggling academically, is among the web of corporate entities connected to Alpha, according to its privacy policy<\/a> and business filings with the Texas secretary of state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his emails, Morath said he would like to learn more about Studient\u2019s intervention work with kids lagging academically. He also wanted to discuss 1882 partnerships, formal arrangements in which a public school contracts with an existing charter, university, nonprofit or state-approved entity to run the campus. Districts with consecutive failing ratings will sometimes use these partnerships to avoid possible state takeovers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morath\u2019s staff set up a follow-up discussion with the Prices for October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emails show the commissioner visited Alpha\u2019s campuses again with six other TEA leaders. His staff coordinated to go on the same day as Houston Superintendent Mike Miles. Not only had Morath chosen Miles to lead the Houston district in 2023, but the two had worked together<\/a> at Dallas ISD when Morath was a school board member and Miles was the superintendent.<\/p>\n

\"AnMorath follows up with Alpha associates to discuss how their AI learning program could be used in Texas public schools. Obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Redacted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n

As of August, the TEA said it could not find any documentation of Alpha or its other companies applying for or running an 1882 partnership. But after the school visit, emails show, other state Education Agency leaders began communicating with Alpha and Studient associates about more informal pilot programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Hodge, associate commissioner of system innovation at the TEA, followed up last November to figure out how the state could test out Alpha\u2019s AI model. Hodge emailed Joe Liemandt, the tech billionaire behind the software company Trilogy, who pioneered and invested $1 billion<\/a> into Alpha\u2019s AI-learning technology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great meeting you and learning about Alpha last Monday,\u201d wrote Hodge on Nov. 5. \u201cI\u2019d like to schedule a follow up discussion with you\/your team to talk through possibilities for piloting a few supplemental (you called this Tier 3 in your outline) instances in the state. What\u2019s the best way to get 30-45 minutes to discuss?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hodge eventually had another member of his team, Michael Strange, tour Alpha\u2019s private school in Fort Worth. Strange oversees the TEA\u2019s blended learning programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like for him to be able to visit your school as we continue to improve our supports for TX districts and better understand the landscape of tech-enabled models in K-12,\u201d emailed Hodge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By April, emails show, Strange was regularly in contact with Andy Price and a Studient employee about helping to launch pilot programs in public schools. At one point, Strange sent them a to-do list with next steps, which included him drafting a one-page explainer of the pilot program to share with districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andy Price, MacKenzie Price, Studient, Hodge, Liemandt and Strange did not respond to the newsrooms\u2019 requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\"AnOne of Michael Strange\u2019s emails to Alpha associates about launching pilot programs with its AI learning platform in public schools across Texas Obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Redacted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n

In all, ProPublica and the Tribune identified at least five school districts \u2014 Ector County, Fort Bend, Irving, Pecos and Pflugerville \u2014 that confirmed they were approached about partnering with Alpha but did not pursue an agreement. Only Ector County provided a reason, stating the district \u201cdetermined our school day is not currently structured to effectively implement or support the pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Alpha and Studient officials had some successes. By mid-June, Strange applauded their progress securing pilots with Fort Davis and Aldine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Friday!\u201d wrote Strange ahead of a check-in. \u201cLooking forward to seeing everyone today and excited to hear that districts are moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders at Fort Davis and Aldine told ProPublica and the Tribune they are using the AI platform this year to help students who are behind academically. Michelle Hartmann, deputy superintendent at Fort Davis, which enrolls around 800 students, said it will deploy the model in its K-8 classrooms for students who need additional help in reading and math.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited because we see it as an opportunity to provide an extra layer of intervention,\u201d Hartmann said. She later followed up with the newsrooms to say the district could not be happier after the first weeks of the pilot and that students are very engaged.<\/p>\n

Aldine will deploy the online platform to roughly 300 students across four middle school campuses that require support in math. Ashley Brown, an Aldine spokesperson, said the Alpha intervention model aligned with the district\u2019s mission \u201cto provide a rigorous and enriching educational experience that prepares every student for success in college, career, and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenKindergarten and first grade students participated in a workshop at an Alpha School in Austin last year while McMahon and Morath toured the campus. Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Houston ISD plans to use the Alpha technology for students with strong test scores \u201cto evaluate whether this instructional approach can accelerate academic growth,\u201d according to its press office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The office said Houston ISD wasn\u2019t paying Alpha for the pilot but did not provide more details. The district asked the Texas attorney general to withhold the contract from the newsrooms under the state\u2019s public records act.\u00a0<\/p>\n