What Bold Education Reform Actually Looks Like from Inside the Capitol | Rep. Caroline Fairly

Texas education is at a turning point, and the leaders shaping that future matter more than ever. Representative Caroline Fairly of Amarillo is one of those leaders. A faith-driven West Texas native with a background in business, federal policy, and healthcare, Rep. Fairly came into her freshman legislative session ready to work — and work she did.

She carried HB 1481 — the bill that enabled phone-free learning environments in Texas classrooms — because she was blown away by what she saw: a generation of kids unable to engage, disconnected from their peers, and distracted from the reason they showed up in the first place. What happened after the bill passed may surprise you.

We also get into TEFA accounts and what the early rollout of school choice in Texas is actually telling us about what families want, her visit to Success Academy in New York — the school founded by Eva Moskowitz — and what Texas could learn from that model. Plus: the real conversation about screens in classrooms, the research on short-form content and the reading crisis, and what it means to legislate on objectivity instead of emotion when the stakes are this high.

Rep. Fairly sits on the House Appropriations Committee, the Natural Resources Committee, and the Select Committee on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education. She is not just checking boxes — she is building a legacy of practical, community-centered leadership.

Doctors warn Senate that Gen Z cognitively underperformed previous generation — screen time could be to blame

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About The Ashley B. Cash Show: The Ashley B. Cash Show features conversations with education leaders, policy experts, parents, teachers and reform advocates who are working to transform K-12 education. Host Ashley B. Cash brings her perspective as both a parent and business owner to explore systemic education issues and practical solutions for creating better outcomes for students, families, and communities.

About Ashley:  As both a mother and business owner, Ashley brings a unique dual perspective to education reform advocacy, driven by her desire for better educational outcomes for future generations and informed by her firsthand experience with the skills gap facing employers today. Her passion for transforming K-12 education stems from witnessing the real-world consequences of educational failures and recognizing the critical need for a system that prepares students for diverse career pathways, not just college. Through this podcast, Ashley champions solutions including aptitude-based education tracks, expanded school choice, practical skills integration, and alternative career pathways that align with students' individual strengths and interests.

Follow @AshleyBCashOfficial on Instagram & @Ashley Bowes Cash on Facebook.

Visit www.AshleyBCashOfficial.com for more content and features. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Ashley B Cash Show. I'm Ashley. And today I'm super excited to welcome Representative Caroline Fairley from Amarillo, Texas. Texas education is at a turning point, and the leaders shaping the future matter more than ever. Representative Fairley is one of those leaders, a faith-driven West Texas native with a background in business, federal policy, and healthcare. Caroline came into her freshman legislative session ready to work, and work she did. She carried the bill that enabled phone-free learning environments in Texas schools, tackled digital safety head-on, and has been closely watching the rollout of TIFA accounts, Texas education freedom accounts, or rather school choice as we referred to it, and what they mean for this state, for the children, and for our future. She sits on the House Appropriations Committee, the Natural Resources Committee, and the Select Committee on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education. In short, Representative Fairly is not just checking boxes. She is building a legacy of practical, community-centered leadership. Today we are diving deep into what happened last session, what is working, what is next, and why the future of Texas education has never been more important to get right. I'm so honored to have her with us. Representative Fairly, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Thank you, Ashley. I'm so glad to be here. Even if it's via Zoom, I'm just to chat with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Well, you're very busy and you're doing really great important things. So we're happy to have you on Zoom and we'll look forward to having you in person another time, hopefully. I know, me too. Me too. Well, I want to get right into it today. Um, you know, last session was your first legislative session as representative, and you rate you you represent Amarillo and the greater area. And, you know, that's my hometown, my home turf. So hello to all the Amarillo people that will hopefully be watching. Um, but let's talk a little bit about the great things that you helped get accomplished last session. I mean, I think it was by far the most conservative and most amazing legislative session that we've probably had in 20 years, and you were a part of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Oh my heavens, it was an incredible session. I think, you know, it's funny because I think the last session we had, people also were like, it was the most conservative. And then this year, people were like, no, no, no, objectively, the funding we did with education, um, how we worked with just teachers and parents, what we did with kids safety. I mean, and even beyond that, property, all of these different policies we passed, it was the most conservative session we have ever had, um, which speaks a lot to you know, Speaker Burroughs and his leadership, and also just to the incoming class and being able to fine-tune legislation that works for you know all of Texas. But yeah, it was a it was an incredible, especially for a freshman, an incredible first session.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yes, it was it was really amazing. And you carried a couple really cool big bills. Like the one that I was most excited about was the you got rid of cell phones in schools. And like I've seen tremendous results from that. What how did it go down? How did you come about with that? And then what's happened today?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So phone-free schools really started. Um, there are a few reasons why I I honestly cared about passing this. Was one, given my age, you know, I'm 27 years old. I I do feel like I'm connected, being Gen Z to this generation that um grew up and is growing up on social media, and just seeing the negative impacts it can have on kids, um, I just think can be extremely harmful for them. And I think it's even beyond sometimes our even understanding. But really, what I recall was I was sitting in on some classes, um, and some teachers had invited me from different parts of Texas to come sit in and um just for my educational awareness, it was kind of in the middle of school choice being discussed. And so I remember sitting in this classroom, um, it was in a high school, and I was blown away at the amount of dysfunction in this classroom. I mean, the kids had their AirPods in with their hair over their ears, they had their laptop set up with a phone behind um, you know, the laptop so they could secretly watch a Netflix show. And there was no engagement. It was very rowdy. The teacher had no, she really had no control over the classroom. Yeah. And it was very normal. Like when I left, she was like, this is how it works, and it's great. And she expressed to me, I was like, can you tell me about the phones? Like, do you all have a policy? She said, no. And she said, it's so difficult. I feel like we've lost control over everything. And um, and so basically she, you know, we started discussing what would it look like to have phone-free schools. And um, you know, we started working on legislation about, you know, you want to allow as much local control as possible. Like, I'm not really a fan of regulating, you know, public education in general. And we figured out what would there be a common ground? And really it came to, you know, the phones need to be up and away. You need to have a policy because the root of the issue is basically you send your kids to public school and you send them to school to learn math and science and reading and to engage with their teachers, to engage with other students. You don't send them to be on a device or to be on their phone. And so, really, we heard from teachers, I heard from teachers all over saying we kind of want the state's help on this. We need to have some, you know, support. And so that's really, you know, really where where the bill idea came from.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

That's awesome. And I was super excited about it during session. And then having seen it roll out this school year, like I'm talking to teachers who are amazed. Like they they knew the phones were a problem, but then what they're seeing now is more students being engaged, more students paying attention. Um, they're seeing less bullying on the phones, right? But they're also seeing for the first time like kids sitting and actually having conversations with each other.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Exactly. Exactly. And I mean, I definitely had some pushback when we first were passing it. Like I remember, you know, it's interesting because Texas, you know, we're majority conservative, but like the committee makeup on PubEd has, you know, quite a few pretty um vocal Democrats, let's just say that. Yeah. And so it was fascinating to even go through that process of um passing legislation that is very conservative, but also I do need to work to some degree to figure out I got to get votes to get this off the committee. And how do Republicans and Democrats feel about this? And it was really encouraging to see that both parties agreed, like this this is an issue. And you don't see that a lot. Like most of the time, we're kind of just fighting and both saying, you know, and look, Democrats' reasons I think were a little different than maybe my reasoning, which I was kind of fine. I was like, look, the the phones just need to be up and away. That's what I care about. Um, but it was fascinating to kind of work through that process and negotiating to figure out how do we, you know, secure the principle and the core of the issue and not get lost in the details. Like I think sometimes that happens. Um, but I also had a lot of pushback. Like once it passed, you know, I had some bomb, I had a bomb threat. I had a student call. This was wild. I had a student call our office phone in the Capitol and threatened. They left a voicemail and they said, Hey, we're gonna bomb your home tonight. Oh wow. And I was in Amarillo and had no clue. And my chief of staff called me the next day or that night, she was like, Are you okay? Are you okay? And I was asleep, so I didn't see it till the next morning. And sure enough, um, we had reached out to DPS to say, like, you know, it was fine. And I wasn't worried about it. But um, you know, as a little, I think, teenager in Dallas area, and the DPS officer, I was really impressed. They responded and they went to his home and said, Hey, buddy, like you can't, you can't call lawmakers and threaten to bomb them. Like, that's not appropriate. But I've had like I had that happen. We had I had several emails from some some some very colorful emails from some young people saying, you know, how they really feel about it. And that was like at the very beginning of the bill being implemented. Yeah. And honestly, when that happened, I was like, this is why even more so we need this because there's an addiction to the phones. And um, since then, it has been, like you said, so positive. I mean, even students saying, I didn't realize how addicted I was to my this device until I wasn't an even an option. And I'm I'm thankful. I feel like free from it. I'm able to, you know, talk in the criteria and so maybe build relationships with other kids for the first time, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Exactly. I really think um, you know, there has been a big push, and and you hear the tech bros all the time saying, Oh, we need to go to straight AI learning, like the kids need to be on the computers, that's the future. And, you know, I know Finland and some other countries have done that, and this year they are dropping all the computers from the classroom. Um, they found it really, really bad. And they said, Yeah, we're gonna need to have a class for that, but we're taking the computers out of the classroom the rest of the time. And so I think it's really funny um the dichotomy we're seeing where yes, we have AI right rising on this side that is going to require us to have more skills for that, and yet there are things um that we have done for so long, like the way we teach kids to write, where they move from the left side of their body across the right side of their body. You know, we stopped teaching cursive writing and now we're putting it back in because we realized it really messed with the kids weren't connecting all the synapses and all the dots. And um, and I think, you know, we're coming into this age where that's going to be even more critical. Um so what are your thoughts on computer in schools, or do you have one? Have you thought about have you thought about like more screens? Like, what are you doing about more screens?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on this. And I I feel like, you know, Ashley, it's interesting you bring up Finland because it does, and I need to look more into what they did, but it feels like they might have found a balance between. We understand computers are a part of the educational process and there's a use for them, but let's have some boundaries around when our kids are having access to them. Um, and you know, when you just look at statistics, like I think in the 24-25 school year, Texas school district spent over$1 billion in Chromebooks and smart, you know, computers. And so you see that and you're like, why are we spending so much money on this? And so there's two things with the you know, devices or tablets and computers, all of that in schools that I have. One uh is the money we're spending in school districts. Like I'm looking into how much are school districts spending on these devices and and computers, and is it a necessary that they need to be buying more, or are we just like giving hundreds of millions of dollars to big tech and wasting taxpayer dollars? So that's one just financially conservative. I'm curious what are we spending? And then the second is the kids' educational experience. Like, um, and I think there's a balance. I think there is, and I'd be curious your thoughts on this, but I think there's a difference in social media and then the content the kid is taking in on a computer. Um, and so I think we have to look at, you know, I agree social media can be harmful. I don't think it has a place really in public schools or in our schools. But when you look at, you know, laptops and what the material the kid isn't taking, that's what I care about. Um, you know, a kindergartner being on a Chromebook, I struggle to understand why on earth that's happening. Um, I still can't figure out when I ask people like, what is a reasoning why a kindergartner needs to be on a Chromebook and they're most developmentally, you know, new important years. Yeah, important years. Um, and then the other part though is really fine-tuning what's the content, like and and what I in my head measure content. Like, can the kid take a test? And then can you sit down with that kid and say, okay, you were at point A and at the end of the year, you need to be at point B. And these are the materials we're gonna give you to make sure you get to point B. And you know, I think there's an incredible place where AI and data can be used to help our kids in this country and in Texas to further help them get better. But I think the content is really, really important that we assess. I'm working through that now. Like, how do we how do we figure that? And and you said it with writing, like kids have to know how to write cursive, they have to know how to type. But you know, when all they're doing is this or this, they they don't know how to. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

No, I agree with you. Um I think that it's something that we need to teach, but I would I've been reading several studies recently, and I'll be happy to send them to you after this, and we'll try to link some of them below in the content for other people. But um, there was a man that testified before Congress recently on how detrimental, especially at certain ages, at early ages, it is for the kids to be on the screens so much, and not just social media, but actually doing content on the computers. I think possibly it's better for later, like junior high and up, but earlier, I think that we've got to limit it just based on these screens. One of the things they were saying, and this applies a lot to social media, but it can apply to quick lessons too, is that when we give kids um short content, even if it's good content, we are teaching them not to be able to focus for long periods of time. So the short form content is one of the biggest problems. And it it doesn't, it doesn't have to be bad, like morally bad, or you know, something that we don't agree with, to be bad for them because it's not teaching them to use their brain for a long period of time. And it's giving them those dopamine hits, right? And so then when they have to go to a long form content, even if it's a movie or to sit down and have dinner with somebody over an hour and have a conversation, they're not able to do that for two reasons. One, their brain is not trained to do long form because we've trained it to do short form. And number two, it's also not it's it's not getting the dopamine hits. Oh, we got some some balloons went up right there.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Oh maybe I should try that. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Anyways, um so so there, you know, there are things, and and we've got to start doing more research and science on the science of what we're doing to these little kids' brains with the screens. Um, and and I'm I'm I'm for teaching them how to use the computer. I just don't think that it should be their whole day anymore, especially when we do need to teach them to physically do some things. And I don't like I'm not an advocate of kids being sat at a desk all day long. I think that they need to be moving around and have areas that they go to more like a Messory kind of look. I I'm I'm an advocate of a Messory look with some classical education ways of teaching thrown in there. Um, it's a very mixed bag for me. Like, I'm like, what shows the best results and how do we take the best things out of each practice and pull them together? Um, like I'm not even sure in this day and age that we should have a quote kindergarten, first, second, and third grade, right? I think that we should throw kids into primary and say it takes on average four years to get through here, but we're going to keep you here until you've mastered these specific skills. Um, because then you get rid of the like right now we have dropped the expectations for kids, right? And we also don't want to hurt their feelings in our schools. And so we're passing kids through when they're not prepared, right? So how do we fix that? How do we not pass them through till they know the information? And how do we not hurt their feelings? Well, how about we just get rid of grade levels?

SPEAKER_03 15:49

And they're in there, they're in there.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

I think I think that it should be something we look at for sure through third or fourth grade. Okay. Um, like maybe you have primer and that's maybe two years, and then you have primary and that's maybe first through fourth. And then, you know, we can assess it for fifth grade and up. But I mean, just think about what benefit these kids would have if no one left third or fourth grade without the ability to read. Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah. And because right now in Texas, 54% of third graders can't read at the third grade level.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

And that breaks my heart. And most people don't realize, and I've talked about this a couple of times on the podcast that this may not be news to anybody, but the third grade reading level is so critically important because number one, if you're not reading at third grade level by the end of third grade, and right now 54% of Texas kids aren't, that means that they um our penitentiary system uses that number to determine how many beds we're gonna have in the future in our in our jails. Because the statistics show that if you're not at that third grade level by the end of third grade, there's an 80% chance you will either be on welfare or in the prison. And that's just not okay. We can't do that to our kids, right? So I'm just trying to look at common sense approaches to be like, okay, if that's our if our goal is to get everybody to read, how do we get them there? And how do we do it without hurting their delicate sensibilities, right? So just remove the grade levels and put them in there based on this is where they are in math, this is where they are in reading, and let them be grouped with kids who are in like areas, like ratings, um, and let the teachers be able to focus on improving that.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Hmm. That is very that that's very interesting. I I um I so agree with your point about yes, over 50% cannot are not a third grade read level, which is beyond like when you think about that, you know what, there's five million students in Texas, I think. Yeah, 2.5 cannot read on a third third grade reading level. Right. We are doing a disservice to our children, and frankly, we're doing a disservice to our country because we want our kids to grow up, to understand and know how to read, to know how to do math so that they can compete against China, so that we're able to have, you know, sophisticated engineers, people like that in our country who believe our beliefs and and you know, what we uh stand for. And I'm like, I I'm in the same thought process with you, Ashley, that I'm like, you know, how do we how do we fix that? Because is it is it uh, you know, is it that teachers are just letting kids go by and not say anything? Or is it, you know, we're not providing the correct materials for teachers to be successful? Is it, you know, and I I don't think it's one thing, but um I'm very interested in looking into how do we fix that and and just assist to make sure our kids they can read. Like we need kids to be able to read, you know, it's a pretty basic thing.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

And I think most teachers, most the majority of them are very much want the children to succeed. I think it has more to do. Um, what I have seen, and when I talk to teachers, I think it has more to do with us teaching for testing versus teaching for outcomes and teaching for success. Right. Yeah, and like a lot of the teachers and some of the curriculum, like you mentioned curriculum earlier. I think some of our curriculum is really bad. And not only that, it has been so watered down and so morphed to lower expectations and to um make it not be like they want to be nice, right? So they're like, oh, they didn't do as well, let's lower the expectations. Oh, they didn't do as well, let's lower the expectations, instead of looking at the actual curriculum and being like, this is not working, right? Like we and we've gone away from some things that really did work that I think we need to bring back, but then simultaneously we need to look at, man, we're in the age of AI now. What are what are like we've got to take old things and new things and bring them together, I think.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

You're you're so right. And I I hear the same thing with teachers feeling like, I I want my kid to know how to read. But I've heard numerous times the we feel like we have to teach the test. And it's such a hard um, I feel like that's so hard with legislation because we have to test our kids, like we have to know where they're at, but we also want to allow the autonomy of our educators to be like, this kid is not doing well. I need to slow down and this kid needs to get up to speed and not feel like, you know, they're gonna get punished or that and it's yeah, it's just very complicated. And so I'm um I'm excited to work with you on that because that is one of my I was in some discussions last week about, you know, why are kids on why do 50% of our kids can't read a third grade? Like that should be a screaming red flag alarm. And how do we equip our teachers to do better? Like, what can we do? Is that a law? Is it not a law? Like, you know, one thing I learned the phone bill is just like we got to be mindful with legislation we pass that impacts education because, and look, I know that that can be controversial with school choice and with pub ed and all of those elements, but we do want to assist, like the law wants to assist with educators and with public education and it's taxpayer dollars, like it's your money and it's my money going to the future of education. And we want it to be good. So let's work together to be sure we're finding those. And and you said it too, like not lower the bar, but say, no, no, no, every kid is capable of excellence. We got to hold the bar high so that know that they can they can still do it and we can get them there.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Yeah. Um, you know, one of my um bills that I'm planning on taking this year, I think you may like, um, because this reading is such an issue and because we know that we're not doing well at it, why don't we just double the time we give them to do it? So instead of having one English class that covers both reading and writing, why don't we double down and we create two core subjects? One is just reading and one is writing, and then let's add speaking to it. So they learned all forms of communication. Um, and so like that's just literally one where I'm taking the one LAR class and dividing it into two core subjects reading and then writing and speaking. And these classes would relate back to the reading that they're doing, right? So it may even be the same teacher, but now she has double the time. Because especially and this primarily is in the K through fourth or fifth grade, right? That we're just doubling down on the reading because the reading is the foundation of everything else. And you mentioned math scores. Yes, math scores aren't great, but by the time you're in third grade, you're doing word problems, which are reading, right? And I think yes, we need more focus on math, but the reading has to come first. Totally.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

No, that's fascinating. We should um, I yeah, we should talk about that more because I'm hoping. And I think there's momentum to discuss that even more so next session after you know school choice passing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Well, speaking of school choice, let's talk about that for a minute. Okay, so we're calling it school choice. That's why we talked about it all year long during legislation, but now it's TIFA or Texas Education Freedom Accounts. So, what have you heard? I've heard really great things. So tell me what you've heard.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, no, same. I've heard great things. I think um, you know, I think with what there's like 274,000, you know, applicants. And so, you know, the next month will be figuring out how do we allocate those, making sure they go to the kids with low income and disabilities. But no, I think it's been positive. And I and I think seeing how many people applied is just proof that parents want this. Like it was kind of like I think when it passed, like, well, we'll see. People aren't gonna apply. And then when 274,000 families applied, I'm just like, there is a demand for this in Texas. And so I think it's been, I think overall it's been really good. I think the comptroller's office is working really closely to be sure the rollout and you know, whoever gets these access to these accounts, you know, it's done well. But yeah, I've it's it's all been, you know, pretty the only, the only, I will say, negative thing I've heard has been, I think, misinformation on is the funding going to wealthy families. And I spent a lot of time being like, the we wrote the bill to only go to first low income and kids with disabilities because we didn't intend for school choice to go to wealthy families. Like the intent was, you know, there are some families that work really hard that don't make a lot of money and they can't afford. And we want them to have the decision to say, I want to send my kid to this, this other school or private school. And so um I think that's been the only miscommunication, but you know, it's pretty easy to say, nope, that's not how the bill bill was written.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Well, you know, it was very controversial. Um, you know, it took 32 years. In fact, the entire reason that Texas Public Policy Foundation was founded 32 years ago was for school choice. Um, so it took us 32 years in Texas to pass this. It was extremely controversial. The uh Texas Association of School Boards and the Teachers Union stood up against it. Um, and they kept telling everyone, oh, it's gonna defund schools. It's gonna defund schools. So another miscommunication because in actuality, it brought a billion extra dollars out of the general fund to schools, right? And um I everything that I've heard has been great. Um I think that you're right. I think that this next session, what I'm anticipating, you tell me what you think, is that there is such demand that we're going to need to double down on the funding for it so that we can get more families who didn't make it this time um into the system. Give them the choice.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Yeah, no, I think there will be definitely conversations about how do we allocate the funding and also be smart with it. Like, you know, it was a good number to start with the 1 billion, but I know that, you know, people want it and want to expand it. So we'll have to see, we'll have to see what that looks like with the different financial buckets and you know, work all those things out appropriations. But um, yeah, I definitely think that will that will definitely get brought up.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

And I have to say, I was really, really impressed with how well the controller's office rolled it out. Um, because you know, that was I think a lot of our fear, those of us who were pushing for it was okay, we're gonna get this done. And then how we actually go, we're gonna get the bill passed, but how are we going to get it done? So I was really impressed with how it rolled out.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, the website, the way they did it was very user-friendly. And yeah, I thought I thought they did a good job communicating and yeah, I thought they did great too.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah. So hopefully it works out for all these families this next because it it's it's in preparation for next school year. Yes. Yes. So yeah. And um, I know that there was a they extended the deadline a little bit, but I I do know I have I think it's closed now.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

It is closed. I think it was the 31st, if I recall correctly, but yeah, it's closed now. So nobody else can apply.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

So for all of those viewers who are watching, if you applied and don't get it, make sure and reach out to your legislators. And for those of you that are hearing about it for the first time that want to know more, you can go to the TIFA, you can look it up on the government website, or you can go to Texas Education Freedom accounts or um educationfreedom.texas.gov, I believe is the website, um and learn more about it and just talk to your legislators for next session and see if they can allocate some more money so more people can have school choice. So we talked a little bit about um structured education and raising, keeping expectations high. I know that you um are an advocate of charter schools, and I heard from a little birdie that you went and looked at the Success Academy in New York's in New York. So tell me some about that because I've been fascinated by it.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

I did, yeah. I went, I think it was, I think it was last week. Um, yeah, I went to Success Academy. And for those who may not, you know, know, Success Academy is a charter school. Um, it houses about 20,000 students, so it's about 50 to 60 schools in New York. I believe they're the second or third largest district in New York City. And um, you know, with charter, it's all about lotteries. So, you know, you apply, hopefully you get in. But this woman who started, her name's Eva Moskowitz. And um I, yeah, we got to meet her and you know, have some conversations about just how she structures her education. And, you know, actually, I like I had heard of Success Academy. I started reading her book, which if you haven't read it, you should totally read it. It's it's hard for me to put it down. It's very interesting, very well written, easy read. And um, you know, with Success Academy, I think it's about, I want to say 80 or I think 90% of students are, you know, low-income minority. Um, and so most of the students are, yeah, they come from I I would say rougher backgrounds. Um, but um yeah, they they do an incredible job. And I had heard about it and when we went, I was like, yeah, this would be great. And I left and I was so, I was one, just really inspired about like what can we do better in Texas. I was also just blown away at how counterculture, you know, they tell you we do these things, but until you see it, you're like, oh my heavens, and it works. Like this whole idea that you said we lower the bar, they they have this belief that basically we have high expectations and accountability, and we believe that kids can perform at a high level, no matter their background, and we can hold them to it and we can help them get there. Um, but we're gonna expect our kids to perform well. And you know, they have a hundred percent of their kids um have college acceptance, which is incredible when you think about these kids are coming from low-income um families and um minorities. Like it is incredible. And it's also just encouraging that she has given these kids, whereas they may not get an opportunity to go to college, a lot of our first generation kids going to college. Um, and so she structures without going into too much detail, basically it's a lot of accountability, it's a lot of structure, but there's also this relationship aspect that they're you know all achieving and going towards one common goal between the teachers, the parents, and the students, students. Like she does a good job of like, we are a team going towards this one goal that our kids, you know, they need to know how to read. Like we do not let a kid go on without reading. They hold kids back.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

I don't know if I wouldn't say I read their website and they say they do hold kids back if they don't meet a certain threshold at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

And for the most part, like they all pretty much get there. Like, I don't think there is, and it's it's also this belief that like you can read. Like if you teach kids appropriately, they can read. Like kids aren't, it's not like, oh no, my kid can't read. Um, and you know, she they do a lot, they do phonics and they kind of do, I think, like a 30-minute in and out quick teach them the Tom, Tam, Sam, Sat. Um, and they do all these developmentally, I think, appropriate, but also highly structured. Um, the kids wear uniforms, um, which you don't often see that I think also does help. I think kids with uniforms just there's more structure. There's no comparing about what kids wearing. I wore uniforms and loved it. Oh, I loved it too. Oh, I didn't like it at first, but then I agree.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Well, at first, but then I got where I was like, I don't have to figure out what I'm wearing. This is great. It cuts down the amount of time I have in the morning. Yes, no, it's virals.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

But you know, 90% are, you know, of of the students at Success Academy can read. 90%. And then you look at Texas, which we talked about 50%. And I see that, you know, so like out of 10 kids, nine out of 10 can read in in her schools and in Texas, five out of 10. And that gap is like uncomfortably too large for me. And I'm thinking, like, oh, we there are just some things in Texas we can do, we could do better, I think. And I was really inspired with the work she does. She's an excellent leader. I mean, like very humble, but you can tell, you know, she's created a structure of curriculum that is just, you know, different than what maybe the typical every public school is doing it, so I guess we should do it. And I think she's also, she just had quite an uphill battle of getting it done in New York and clearly has been, you know, overwhelmingly successful in in New York City.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Well, when I was reading about it, um I loved the structure because um my grandmother used to have a saying, and she said, children will live up to or down to your expectations. And I think that is so true. And I think as we have watered down curriculum and watered down expectations and started teaching for a test instead of teaching in ways that we know have historically worked, we have done all these kids a disservice. And one of the things that I loved about it was the structure. I loved that they have super high, I mean, most people, if they would read the expectations they have for these kids, like they have second graders doing physics.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Right. Um, they have it's it's a very STEM-based, um, STEM-based curriculum. And um, a lot of people in Texas and in other states are like, oh, that's too hard for the kids, right? And they keep saying it's too hard. And we're not encouraging them, we're not like pushing them to be better, right? We're letting them get away with um what they want to give away with. Well, they're children. We shouldn't put that into their hands. We need to be driving that ship.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Totally. And even when you talk about like, you know, the expectations are high, like they discussed when we were there visiting, you know, that failure is okay. Like kids are gonna fail. And we expect them to fail because they're just not gonna get it all right. And how do we have a high expectation of saying you have to perform, but also saying it's okay to fail? And like part of failing is part of learning. And they've just done a really excellent job of. I mean, actually, I was so we were in this kindergarten class, and you know, there's I think 20 kids, and and the majority of the kids are black and brown students from these, you know, harder situations, and the teachers going through phonics and the structure of the kids, you know, they were playing a game about saying the different, you know, Sam, S A M. And they had a clapping, you could tell it was like this is what they do, I don't know, five days a week or something like that. But the structure that was there, but the little kiddos, they were happy, they were learning, they had, you know, um, I think some of them had, I asked later, but they had little a few of them had crowns on their head, like paper crowns that said like smart or something like that. And I was like, what are the what are the crowns for? And they had said, like, we, you know, we try to focus on improvement. Like, so if a kid is improving, we're like, we're gonna focus on the improvement that you did this so much better, and we're proud of you, and and we focus on praising the positive things. Um, but also there was just kind of like you said, um, how do I say it? Like they weren't afraid to correct students. Like, I there was a few classes we saw that a student got something incorrect, and the teacher just said, Hey, that could try, you know, I want you to try again, that was incorrect, or you know, some something like that. Just told the student, and there's no like, oh no, I don't want to hurt their feelings, or I don't want to, I gotta like move past it and say, you know, it was just like, no, we we want you to perform well and you you made a mistake, and we're gonna tell you, hey, this was an error, try again and let's try again.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

And and then when you do it right, we're gonna praise you up one side and down the other.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Yeah. So I was um, yeah, I was really, really impressed when I when I when I was there and glad I got to see it. So they, I don't know if you noticed, but they co-locate. And I wasn't familiar really with like I'd heard of that, but I wasn't really familiar. And it was also hard for me to fathom, like how do you co-locate? Which is when you know you have charter school and public school in the same building. And so, like, and I think how you measure that, like if there's a public school that has a thousand, can then seat a thousand kids, but only 500 public school students are enrolled. Well, there's 500 open seats in that school. And so they've worked it where the charter school should be able to go in and also use the other part of that school. And so I think sometimes it's divided by like different levels. So like one floor might be charter, one floor may be public. Um, or maybe like the one we saw had like some classrooms were charter, some classrooms were public. But there was a very obvious difference between the charter and the public. It was very interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

No, um, sorry, my computer's ding in telling me I have messages over here. I'm sorry if that's interrupting. Um that happens to me too. No, I just um I love that and the results that they are having are amazing. Amazing. You know, they're a hundred percent of their kids have college acceptance, and a lot of them are getting really great scholarships so that they can actually go to college. I mean, yeah, it's incredible. And and most of them are going in, I mean, I think more than 40% are going into STEM fields. They have, and this I love, they have mandatory in high school, mandatory chess debate, and arts.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

We saw the chess. It was impressive. I mean, yeah, they go and play. And she also talked a little bit about the importance of that, that, you know, um teaching them from a younger, you know, they start young learning chess and how important it is for just beyond just playing it as a game, but that, you know, you have 10 different options that you could go down when you're, you know, playing chess, and your opponent also has 10 different options. And it, you know, forces the student to think critically about, okay, what are the 10 options my opponent has, or what are the 10, you know, options I have. Um, and then also just also I think we talked about this, but focus like the more sophisticated chess player you are, the longer the game goes. And so when a kid is able to focus and think critically for a you know longer amount of period of time, it's just good for their development. Yeah. Um, yeah, yeah. It was, yeah, it was impressive.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Well, I love that. And I think that there are a lot of lessons that we can take from that. Um I think that you have heard that my big ask, my big, big, big ask at the legislature this year is to create basically an education task force, and you can call it a council, you can call it whatever you want to call it. But it basically is, I didn't want to do an interim charge because I didn't just want it to be representatives and senators. I wanted it to be more widespread, where it's some government officials, some representatives and senators, maybe you know, Mike Morath from the TEA and Aaron Kenzie from the SVOE, and then some educators like Mike Miles, the superintendent in the Houston School District, or some other superintendents and principals, teachers. Um, but then people like myself and Mandy Drogan and uh Mary Ann Pinella, and people who are advocating for reformation of education. And then I think one of the key components that we have to bring into it is industry leaders, people who know where our industries are going, especially with AI moving so fast. Um, and I think that we need to rethink education for what do we these kids need to be learning in the next 10 and 15 years? Because what we're doing today is we're doing some good things for schools, but we're also failing them on several points. And it's not, we're we're not, we're not, we're not where we need to be as far as the um all the kids really having great opportunities when they get out of high school, right? So where where does our workforce need to be and where does education need to go to meet that? Right. So it's a task force to look at that and figure out, okay, here's where workforce needs to be. What does education need to do to get us there? And then figuring out like a two-session plan of reformation of education. Um, and and a lot of it is is where our schools doing really well. Can we learn from them and bring that to the table? And then how does that match up with where our workforce needs to be in 10 or 15 years? Um, because for me, the obviously safety is the number one most important thing, but the second most important thing to me is that these kids have good outcomes for their future.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

And I just think we need to do a lot of looking at that and figuring out what how do we need to change it? Because and we've done great things. This last session, we did great things with education, but in some ways I feel like we're plugging holes on a sinking ship and we need to like really turn it into a spaceship. So tell me about the other bills that you carried last session. Like, what other things were you super proud of?

SPEAKER_01 40:29

I there were um several different bills. I would say the other one top, like I had some local bills that I passed. Um, I think I filed like 13 and passed 10 or 11 of them.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Um, but it was great for a first-term representative, I have to say, that's really amazing.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

I had, I feel like I had a lot of, you know, good people helping me and you know, a lot of my my staff was amazing. And, you know, so I will say it goes to prove one thing I learned is I was like, if you work hard in Austin, you can pass bills. I have a firm belief, like you know, yeah, the amount of people I would be like, can can you help me on this? Or I need to get this done. Can we get, you know, the people that's another story. Um, I was really proud to pass the App Store Accountability Act with Senator Paxton. Um, you know, the governor had come to Amarillo for a bill signing for the both the phone free schools and the App Store bill. And that bill I was was really difficult to pass. Like the phone, the phone free schools bill was was complicated in a different way, but the app store bill had a lot of lobby big tech money against it. And just um, yeah, it was quite an uphill battle to fight that one. And we got it done and got it passed. And um hopefully it will become law. I know, you know, it's kind of stuck in a few different ways, but tell people what it's supposed to do. Yeah, so the app store bill allows parents to approve or deny apps, you know, social like any kind of app on a kid's phone, um, to approve or deny for them to download it. And it's only for minors. Um, and really the idea behind this is that um, and I think it just it's was um you know, I think they're trying to do it in Congress too. I know that um they had a hearing on it the other day, but all that to say um the idea behind this came from this concept that you know when a kid signs a contract, one kids can't sign contracts, like they shouldn't be able to. And then, you know, create the algorithm to get your kid addicted to whatever content they're intaking. And the idea is I'm like, if we don't let minors sign contracts, why would we consent to letting minors download apps and sell over their data? And we live in a world now, and I'm speaking from personal, a young person, where we just give everything away, every personal information. We have no privacy, we don't care, we give it away. And there's this, and then and then the other part was just like the inappropriate things that are happening on apps. I mean, groomers, the amount of groom sex torsion that's happening on apps where a kid downloads an app, you know, someone will try to chat with them via the app and then pretend they're a kid and then end up, you know, asking for nudes or asking for inappropriate content and then blackmailing them. I mean, it is horrific. And there have been a huge intake in sex tortion in Texas. And so this bill, back to the bill, is all about how do we protect kids? How do we empower parents to say they could decide. If if if a parent wants to let their kid download Instagram as a sixth grader, that's fine. I don't, I don't feel like that's my place to tell you. But at least let the parent decide and give them the driver's seat to to you know be in the front rails. And it was wild, actually, to see like um Apple was vehemently against this bill.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

Um, you know, they won't sell nearly as many. Yeah, if the parents know what the kids are buying. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

The CEO, you know, of Apple called Governor Abbott and said, Hey, you know, please don't sign this, basically. And thankfully, the governor, you know, he cares about kids. Safety and the future of our little Texans that he was picked, you know, that over big money. And that's you know, speaks to his leadership. But yeah, it was quite the opposition. Um, it was also just interesting to navigate, like, yeah, it was interesting to navigate. I because I'm new, having lobby work so hard against your bill was just I've never experienced that before. And the amount of manipulative, like just lies that they would share, you know, I would be like, this has nothing to do with whatever it was. And so it was very fascinating and very intense. And um, I was glad, you know, it passed like a hundred and I think 20 to 30 no's. So it was overwhelmingly between both parties that's kind of to get done.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

So once you got the real messaging through about what it was really about, you got lots of people on board. In fact, I had a bill, I had several bills last session, and all all of them passed except for one. And um the big lobby came out against it and totally, totally made up a complete and total story about it being related to something else that was considered negative during the session and it just kiboshed it, right? And it had nothing to do with that. But you know, it's amazing how you know, I think as the people that you are and and and the person that I am, where like I I am a Christian and I believe in transparency and I believe in honesty and everything, it's hard for me to imagine people telling as many lies as actually happens, and it happens.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Oh, just yeah, it's just part of it. Honestly, it's so disappointing. Yeah, and then when people fall for the lies, I'm like, no, you know, but it made me way more aware of like when there's a piece of legislation and I'm hearing opposition on both. I'm generally like, I need to hear both sides because someone here isn't telling the full truth. Like, yeah, you know, something is fishy here, but yeah, it's it's wild how how aggressive, you know, they can be. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:01

And it was funny on on my bill that didn't pass, everything was fine. We had all the votes, everything. They literally waited till 36 hours before the vote to launch this campaign so that we couldn't do anything about it, you know. And it was just fascinating watching that go down and just the strategy and yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, they had a whole campaign. It was it was oh my goodness, it was impressive if it wasn't so destructive. Um, you know, I'm like, man, if we could turn all of that toward doing positive things for the state, that'd be amazing we could accomplish, you know. Okay. So we're coming up on a new session. We've got interim session coming up. Um, what are you what things are you hearing about? What things are you actively taking an interest in? And what bills are you bringing this session?

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Yeah, well, I'm still, I feel like um fine-tuning what specific legislation I care about. I think I'm generally after my first session, you know, being home in the interim, I hear a lot from people saying this bill passed and an unintended consequence happened. And, you know, we we kind of just passed this huge overarching bill, and all of these people are affected by it now because people weren't thinking, okay, yeah, yeah, but Texas is so diverse, like let's be mindful when we pass legislation. And so I've just been um, yeah, I care a lot about when passing bills and even the bills I want to carry that like I really only file bills that I know I'm gonna work, um, and then also that I think are realistic and practical. And look, some people probably are never gonna agree with certain legislation I pass, and that's fine. But I feel like what happens is one bad thing happens in Texas, and then we just pass a bill for the entire state. And that one bad thing is horrible. And I'm like, I wish that thing didn't happen. But, you know, you can't legislate on emotion. Like you have to legislate on objectivity. And I think that can be hard. Like I struggle with that. And I'm I'm not saying you can't use emotion to say, you know, with the App Store bill, I was like, kids are being groomed on apps, that is an issue. Um, but there's an objective truth to say that's wrong, and this is why we should pass the bill. And I think sometimes we um it's hard not to be emotional. And so when looking at legislation, that's kind of a little focus of mine is I don't want to overregulate. I want to be practical and mindful and make sure is it good for all of Texas and um, you know, conservatives and you know, how is it implemented, the funding, those things. Um, but I, you know, water is going to be a really big discuss discussion next session, and it's you know this, but it's really big for us in the panhandle and protecting private property rights. And so I know that will be um I'm excited for the interim charges because I think that will be fascinating to see if there's any legislation that comes up from that. And then um I am looking into further technology in school and education. I um, you know, we've already discussed this, so we don't need to go into that, but just what does it look like to have content appropriate materials in schools without, you know, our kids having to be on a Chromebook for eight hours and what does that balance look like? I'm still in the very early stages of all of all of that, so I can't say I have some specific bill idea that I think will fix it, but just you know, going down that path to see what we come up with. Um, I I also care a lot about these like um sex AI bots that are happening, where you know, it's basically your modern day of grooming children and raping them, like through social media or through um AI. And I think it's just uh horrible and evil. And so what does legislation look like to say, like you, you know, minors just can't be groomed through AI? I mean, that's just objectively horrible. Um, so that's another kind of kid safety. And then also um just like educational materials. I really care about that. Like what materials are we giving to our kids? Um, I love working with Commissioner Morath. I think he's he's been really enjoyable to get to know and get to work with. But yeah, those are a few of the things. Um I am also looking into CEOs, like, you know, we yeah, I'm looking into COs and what's the balance of just how that works, certificates of obligation that we just city councils can't just overnight pass$50 million worth without a vote. Like, I don't think the answer is banning them. I don't think we can do that. But is there some reform that can be done to be sure we're saving taxpayer dollars? Um, so yeah, those are a few, the kind of all over the place, but policies that I'm I'm interested in.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Well, and I think, you know, I'm sure you are hearing from constituents and the things that are important to them, and that's driving a lot of your decision making. And and I know you to be a very common sense person who's like, okay, this is the problem. How do we fix it without overstepping, without over-regulating, without um, I just I know you to be that person. And so I'm so glad that you're sitting in that seat and able to help people. Thank you, thank you. We're wrapping up on our hour. So why don't you tell everybody um how they can get a hold of you, um, especially your constituents, but anybody else that is interested in helping you with the bill or um giving you information about Chromebooks in schools or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Yeah. So you can obviously always reach out to my email, which is Caroline.fairly at house.texas.gov. Um, I would give my sellout, but probably shouldn't do that. Ashley and I were joking before, and like I should just give my sellout, probably not. Um, and also I would say like via social media, I'm on Instagram, Fairly for Texas, and then on Facebook, just my name, yeah, Fairly for Texas. Um, you can also go on my website, which is the same, Fairly for Texas. Um, but any of those are I would say are the best. Um, it's pretty easy. Like if you, you know, Google Caroline Fairly, you can find our state office, you can find the cell phone number, you find our social media account. So obviously reach out. I tell, I tell, you know, and Ashley, you've been so wonderful to work with, but I tell people all the time, like, you know, my job is for people to call me and tell me, hey, I'm frustrated with this or how do we fix it? And sometimes people are like, I don't want to bother you, or I don't, and I'm like, no, no, you're not bothering me because it helps me, you know, like Ashley, you have a different perspective into the education world than I do. Partly you're older and have so a lot of wisdom that I want to glean from and learn from and and all of your years of experience. And as a young person, I'm like, I'm so excited to be jumping up to the plate, but also we have to work together with that next generation who has that experience. And so I tell people all the time, I'm like, please call me and tell me if your boots, you know, your boots on the ground, understand the issue sometimes better than I will. And I want to know what's happening. And so um, I always love it when when people reach out.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

Well, thank you so much. And I really do appreciate everything that you're doing. I uh look forward to seeing what you tackle this next legislative session and am hopeful that we can tackle some things together.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

So I'm confident, I'm excited to get to work with you offline and and talk some some of these policies.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

So yeah. Well, we will get together soon. I'll be emailing you and we'll set up some time. Um, but I know we're both headed to Austin this week for some policy junkets, and uh, I'll look forward to seeing you there. And um, without any any last things you want to say.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

I'm good. Thanks for having me on. I'd so I so enjoy this. I see your like social media reels that you make. And so I'm I'm glad I'm a guest on the Ashley Cash show. This feels like an honor. So I'm glad to be here today.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Well, thanks so much for coming. And without further ado, I will bid everyone goodbye and tell you thank you for joining us today on the Ashley Cash show. Make sure and tune in next week where we tackle more ways that we need to transform our K through 12 education system. Thank you. See you next time.