What happened: Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott reappointed Midland’s Aaron Kinsey to continue serving as chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE) through April 2028. Kinsey was first elected to the board in 2022 and named chair in December 2023.

In his role as chair, he leads the 15-member board responsible for setting public school curriculum standards, approving instructional materials, and overseeing the Permanent School Fund. This roughly $60 billion investment fund helps finance Texas public schools.

The big picture: During his tenure as chair, the board expanded its role in shaping what students learn in the classroom after the implementation of House Bill 1605. The law created a system for the state to develop and vet instructional materials that school districts may adopt.

Under that system, the Texas Education Agency develops materials, including the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum, while the SBOE reviews and approves them as a high-quality instructional resource. The law does not require districts to adopt the materials, but the state offers incentives to encourage their use.

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MISD recently adopted the Bluebonnet reading curriculum for grades K-5. At the time, administrators said the switch would reduce costs, with most consumable materials covered by state funding, and the digital platform provided at no cost to the district.

Go deeper: The SBOE is in the middle of rewriting the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for social studies. TEKS define what the state expects students to learn at each grade level and guide instruction and testing. The board approved the review process and early drafts, but the updated standards are still under development, and the SBOE has not yet fully finalized them.

Beyond curriculum, the board’s most significant responsibility is oversight of the Permanent School Fund, one of the largest education endowments in the country. The board manages the fund, and its investment decisions and annual distributions provide ongoing support to public schools statewide. Under Kinsey’s tenure, the board continued its focus on long-term fund performance and stability.