A new ranking from U.S. News & World Report says Houston is home to the best charter middle school in Texas, and two of the top 10 charter elementary schools in the state. Cornerstone Academy, an in-district charter in Spring Branch ISD, was ranked No. 1 in the state in the gorup's 2026 ranking of charter middle schools. It also ranked highly among the state's best public middle schools, earning the fourth spot in the region after two Houston ISD campuses and one in Stafford MSD. It's the second time Spring Branch ISD has topped the U.S. News list for charter schools. In August, Westchester Academy, a charter high school also in Spring Branch, was named one of the top 100 charter schools in the U.S.  view article

A search warrant was issued after a 13-year-old student told police the teacher touched her.  A Houston charter school teacher is under investigation after a 13-year-old female student accused the now-former educator of inappropriate touching and sending her lewd social media messages.  According to a search warrant reviewed by ABC 13, the 28-year-old teacher—whose name has been withheld since he has not been criminally charged—previously worked at IDEA Hardy, part of the IDEA Public Schools charter network.  view article

Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year signed a law authorizing a $1 billion private school voucher program, tapping the state comptroller’s office as the entity responsible for its creation.   The law grants Texas’ chief financial officer tremendous authority to build the infrastructure around education savings accounts, a type of voucher program that will allow families to receive taxpayer money to cover their children’s private school or home-schooling costs.   The agency’s responsibilities include choosing the companies that will receive millions of dollars to help administer the program, creating the rules that participating families must follow and producing annual reports on the program’s outcomes.    view article

Texas families interested in school vouchers will be able to apply beginning in February, according to newly obtained documents outlining the rollout of the landmark $1 billion program.  The window for families to sign their children up is set to run from Feb. 4 to March 20. Decisions about awarded vouchers will be finalized by May 1, with the money accessible in digital wallets beginning July 1.  The timeline, detailed in contracting documents obtained by Hearst Newspapers via a public records request, is the most specific plan seen so far for the new Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which will provide state dollars to pay a wide variety of educational expenses, including private school tuition and homeschool costs. Families had previously been told to expect applications to open in “early 2026.” view article

Three charter school superintendents who are among the highest paid in Texas are overseeing some of the lowest-performing districts in the state, newly released records show. One of them is at risk of closure by school year’s end. view article