Texas Schools Embraced Technology, but What Is the Cost? - Texas Scorecard

That figure comes from the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Matthew McCormick, who examined spending from the Instructional Materials and Technology Allotment. Of the $364 million total disbursed from that fund, another $18.6 million went specifically toward laptops and tablets. The policy roots trace back to 2011, when the 82nd Texas Legislature expanded the allotment to prioritize digital tools as a central part of instruction.

For families with kids in Lubbock ISD or any other district across the South Plains, that money shapes what happens every school day, from the Chromebook your kid hauls home to the online assessments teachers use to track progress. The state has been building this infrastructure for roughly 14 years, and the dollars behind it are not small.

The timing of this conversation is interesting. Texas lawmakers have moved to restrict student cellphone use in schools, drawing a line between personal devices and school-issued ones. But critics are now asking whether the distinction holds up, and whether pouring hundreds of millions into digital instruction actually improves learning.

The research on whether it worked is still catching up.