Listening to Texas: What we’re learning so far

Dear friends and partners,

In my first letter as president of the Charles Butt Foundation, I shared advice Charles Butt gave me as I prepared to return to Texas and step into this role: “Listen.”

Over the past several months, our team has taken that counsel seriously. We have listened through conversations with partners, educators, and nonprofit leaders who care deeply about the future of Texas children. We have also begun reviewing what hundreds of people across Texas shared through our survey and reflecting on what we are learning.

The listening is not complete. We expect this process to continue through 2027, with additional conversations involving policymakers, funders, families, community members, and young people. What we are hearing is helping clarify the questions that will guide the Foundation’s next chapter.

A few themes are emerging from our survey and conversations: education is critical to the future Texans want for their children, but schools cannot carry that responsibility alone. People want strong public schools, respected and well-supported educators, and meaningful learning opportunities for every child. They also want a Texas marked by greater unity, stronger communities, and more shared responsibility for the well-being of all children and families.

These themes are shaping how we understand the Foundation’s future role. We are working to understand education in the full context of children’s lives. These themes are also reinforcing several longstanding commitments that have been central to our work and will continue to shape the Foundation’s next chapter.

Teaching remains essential. Over the past decade, the Foundation’s work has reinforced the importance of investing in educators, elevating the teaching profession, strengthening preparation pathways, and supporting teachers and school leaders. This will remain an important part of our work, even as we consider how the Foundation can support children, families, schools, and communities more broadly.

Research and polling will continue to be important to our work. Good strategy should be informed by evidence, data, and the lived experience of the people closest to the challenges we seek to address. The Texas Teacher Poll and The Texas Education Poll, our research-practice partnership work, commissioned research, evaluation, and the listening process now underway are all part of a larger commitment to disciplined learning.

Systems-level change remains our aspiration. Our goal is to help drive systems-level change in public education and in the broader conditions that shape children’s lives. For us, that begins with identifying needs and gaps through listening and research. It then requires developing and testing promising approaches, investing in organizations and partnerships, and building the relationships, coalitions, and conditions that let meaningful improvement take root, spread, and endure.

We are beginning to see places where further research is needed. Many conversations across the state have pointed to the importance of early childhood, early literacy, college readiness, career pathways, and high school transformation. Those are critical areas, and each may have a place in the Foundation’s future strategy. At the same time, we are seeing a potential gap in attention to middle school. We believe middle school is a critical period in a child’s life that deserves closer study. Before the end of the year, we expect to commission research to better understand the needs, opportunities, and promising approaches in this part of the education journey.

We are balancing urgency with patience. Over the next year, we will act where the need is clear, while resisting the temptation to declare a long-term strategy before we complete the statewide listening and learning process.

The Foundation’s next chapter is still taking shape, but our aspiration is becoming clearer: to help drive systems-level change that strengthens public education, supports children and families, and builds a more connected Texas.

Thank you to everyone who has shared reflections, concerns, encouragement, and ideas with us so far. Your perspective is helping us ask better questions and see the work more clearly.

We are grateful for your partnership and committed to continuing this work together.

With gratitude,

J. Cody Huie, President