Friends of Texas Public Schools will celebrate the people strengthening trust in Texas public education at its annual Friend of the Year Dinner, held for the first time in Austin on Thursday, November 12, 2026, from 5:00 to 9:00 PM at the Etter Harbin Alumni Center. The dinner precedes the Friends Leadership Summit on November 13, with details on the Summit to follow separately.

For all the conversations we have about public education in Texas, something is missing: a shared vocabulary around the benefits of a Texas public school education offered throughout our ISDs.

Read the May e-newsletter here! Texas public schools just delivered something worth celebrating. Of the 405,019 students who made up the class of 2024, more than nine out of ten (90.7 percent) graduated within four years.