Texas Education Agency Pushed Alpha School AI Into Classrooms

Texas Education Agency Alpha School AI became the quiet center of a widening fight over who gets to decide what technology enters the state's public classrooms. Over the past year, Education Commissioner Mike Morath and his staff at the Texas Education Agency worked behind the scenes to help a private school chain's artificial intelligence platform reach public school students, even after the state's elected education board rejected the company's bid to open its own charter campus.

The chain is Alpha School. Its backers wanted to talk with Morath about putting their AI program to work teaching Texas kids. In September 2025, Morath answered an email from associates of the company with a simple line: "I'd love to schedule a follow-up discussion." He already knew the platform well. Three months earlier, he had backed Alpha leaders' attempt to open a charter school built around the same technology.

The Board Said No. The Agency Moved Anyway.

The Texas State Board of Education holds final say on charter decisions. They voted that proposal down 10 to 3. But members didn't stop there. They pointed to the company's reliance on AI to teach, students' screen time, and unanswered questions about the dramatic test score gains Alpha leaders presented, a list of concerns that, taken together, made it clear the board wasn't buying what the company was selling. It's a clear rejection.

But Morath and his agency leaders did not need the board's blessing to push the AI model into traditional public schools. According to communications obtained through public information requests, Morath and his staff exchanged a flurry of emails with leaders of companies connected to Alpha, visited their campuses several times, helped draft a one-page explainer about the program for school districts, and connected the company with district leaders.

One email shows Morath offering to personally introduce an Alpha leader to the superintendent he appointed to run the state takeover of Houston Independent School District, the largest in Texas.

"I'd also like to set up another site visit to visit both your Austin secondary and primary with my team," Morath wrote. "The Superintendent of H.I.S.D. would also like to do a site visit, so I'll connect y'all separately. And hopefully we can schedule them to happen on the same day."

At Least Ten Districts Got a Pitch

State education officials and Alpha affiliates approached at least 10 school districts about the AI program, and they didn't stop there. But only some said yes. At least three of them launched pilot programs: Houston, Fort Davis in West Texas, and Aldine near Houston.

The full extent of the agency's involvement, and the total number of districts using the program, remains unclear. The TEA has not answered questions about its efforts for months, initially failed to hand over some of Morath's emails in response to records requests, and continues fighting the release of additional communications.

The agency sent a written statement. It says there's no formal partnership between TEA and Alpha Schools. The agency added that it's always interested in promising ways to improve student outcomes in math and reading, which is a line officials have used before when asked about outside groups working with districts. But officials said they connected interested district leaders with Alpha. They left the decision to them.

Aldine and Fort Davis leaders told reporters it wasn't unusual for the state agency to recommend potential partnerships. They're excited. And all three districts said they will use the software for supplemental learning, not the full Alpha model, which teaches basic subjects through AI in two hours a day while human teachers, called guides, focus on motivation and emotional support.

The Track Record Problem

Skeptics include some education experts and board members who voted against the charter last year. Their concern is not abstract. Texas was among at least nine states that rejected Alpha leaders' applications to open publicly funded charter schools using the AI tool, according to an Instagram post from the company's co-founder. Students at the one charter the company did get approved, in Arizona, and at an existing Texas school using the program, performed significantly worse on state-mandated exams than Alpha leaders predicted.

Morath's agency knew. It knew about results at Texas Preparatory School in Austin, at least one of those campuses, and what the state test scores compiled by his agency showed was grim: just 21% of students passed. So the TEA gave the charter its third consecutive F rating. That rating rested mostly on those scores.

David DeMatthews, an education professor at the University of Texas at Austin, called it "disheartening" and "painful" to learn the agency was promoting the product when the company has not publicly shown success in public or charter schools, where more students are likely to face learning barriers.

"That raises questions about whether TEA is serving its public interest and is being transparent and accountable to us," DeMatthews said. "It'd be one thing if they were approved as a charter and they did have a track record and they could show evidence. We don't have any of those sorts of things."

A Skeptical National Mood

The expansion lands as officials across the country grow more wary of AI in classrooms. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently banned generative AI for elementary and middle school students in the nation's largest school district. Los Angeles leaders imposed a similar restriction. In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proposed further limiting screen time in public schools.

Abbott, who has received over $1.5 million in political donations from Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price, declined an interview and did not directly say whether he supports the platform in Texas schools. His press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, offered a careful statement: "A great teacher in the classroom is the most important element of a quality education. Any tool a district deploys must keep teachers at the center of the classroom, limit unnecessary screen time, and prove results for students."

Abbott's Democratic opponent in the November governor's race, Gina Hinojosa, held a press conference opposing the use of Alpha's AI program in Houston ISD. She had already promised to fire Morath if elected.

Alpha leaders declined interviews and did not answer detailed questions. Price has repeatedly told her social media followers she wants to bring the AI model into public schools so all families can access it. School leaders have defended the model, arguing teachers remain central, screen time complies with national recommendations, and pointing to a self-published paper claiming Alpha students learn twice as fast as peers while earning test scores among the top tier nationwide.

Red Flags and Pilot Plans

Pam Little, a Republican serving as vice chair of the elected State Board of Education, hopes Abbott's screen time proposal leads to removing screens from classrooms altogether, including the Alpha pilots. "I don't want anything AI in our schools, especially at the lower grades," she said.

Gustavo Reveles voted no. He's a Democratic board member. And he worries the agency is ignoring the board's concerns, which raises a red flag that perhaps there are ways to circumvent that concern, he said.

Last fall, television cameras captured Morath alongside U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visiting an Alpha campus in Austin, joined by Price. Morath said that day, "Our goal is to make sure that children have access to great schools," regardless of who runs them. He added, "There are lessons to be learned in a school like Alpha."

That week, Morath emailed Price. He also emailed her husband, Andy Price, who business filings show serves as chief financial officer at Alpha's related companies. And he connected with an employee from Studient, a company that uses Alpha's AI technology, now often called TimeBack, for students who are struggling academically.

From Campus Tours to To-Do Lists

Morath's staff set up an October follow-up with the Prices. The commissioner visited Alpha campuses again with six other agency leaders, timed to match a visit by Houston Superintendent Mike Miles, whom Morath had chosen to lead the district in 2023.

By November, Andrew Hodge, associate commissioner of system innovation, emailed Joe Liemandt, the tech billionaire behind Trilogy who invested $1 billion into Alpha's AI-learning technology, asking about piloting supplemental instances in the state. Another team member, Michael Strange, who oversees blended learning programs, toured Alpha's Fort Worth private school. By April, Strange was in regular contact with Andy Price and a Studient employee about launching pilots, even sending a to-do list that included drafting the one-page district explainer.

Five other districts confirmed they were approached. Ector County, Fort Bend, Irving, Pecos and Pflugerville all said the same thing. They didn't pursue agreements. Only Ector County gave a reason, saying its school day "is not currently structured to effectively implement or support the pilot," a explanation that stands alone because the other four districts, which were approached about the same program at the same time, offered nothing at all.

By mid-June, Strange celebrated progress. "Happy Friday!" he wrote. "Looking forward to seeing everyone today and excited to hear that districts are moving forward."

Fort Davis enrolls around 800 students. It'll deploy the model in K-8 classrooms for students needing help in reading and math, and Deputy Superintendent Michelle Hartmann, who later said the district could not be happier after the first weeks, explained that they're excited because they see it as an opportunity to provide an extra layer of intervention. Aldine will use the platform for roughly 300 students. That's four middle school campuses needing math support. Houston ISD plans to use it for students with strong test scores "to evaluate whether this instructional approach can accelerate academic growth," and the district said it is not paying Alpha but asked the Texas attorney general to withhold the contract from the public.

Frequently Asked Questions

What action did the Texas State Board of Education take on Alpha School's proposal to open a charter campus built around its AI platform?

The Texas State Board of Education voted the proposal down 10 to 3, since it holds final say on charter decisions. Board members pointed to the company's reliance on AI to teach, students' screen time, and unanswered questions about the dramatic test score gains Alpha leaders presented.

How did Education Commissioner Mike Morath and his agency staff help Alpha's AI platform reach public school students despite the board's rejection?

Morath and his staff exchanged a flurry of emails with leaders of companies connected to Alpha, visited their campuses several times, helped draft a one-page explainer about the program for school districts, and connected the company with district leaders. Morath also offered to personally introduce an Alpha leader to the superintendent he appointed to run the state takeover of Houston Independent School District.

What evidence does the article cite about the academic track record of Alpha's AI program in schools?

Students at the one charter the company did get approved, in Arizona, and at an existing Texas school using the program performed significantly worse on state-mandated exams than Alpha leaders predicted. At Texas Preparatory School in Austin, just 21% of students passed, and the TEA gave the charter its third consecutive F rating based mostly on those scores.

Which school districts launched pilot programs using the Alpha AI platform, and how did they say they would use the software?

At least three districts launched pilots: Houston, Fort Davis in West Texas, and Aldine near Houston. All three districts said they will use the software for supplemental learning, not the full Alpha model, which teaches basic subjects through AI in two hours a day while human teachers, called guides, focus on motivation and emotional support.

What concerns did skeptics, including education experts and board members, raise about the Texas Education Agency's promotion of Alpha's AI platform?

David DeMatthews, an education professor at the University of Texas at Austin, called it disheartening and painful to learn the agency was promoting the product when the company has not publicly shown success in public or charter schools. Board member Gustavo Reveles said he worries the agency is ignoring the board's concerns, which raises a red flag that perhaps there are ways to circumvent that concern.