Texas 2036

Texas 2036 believes it is critical for Texans across the state to know the challenges that our state faces, both now and into the future, and to understand the role that state policy plays in addressing those challenges and ensuring all Texans have the opportunity to flourish. In 2024, Texas 2036 staff visited communities and organized meetings across the state, sharing our research and data at conferences and public events. We established the Texas 2036 Research Advisory Council, a collection of data and policy experts, to advise on our research agenda, as well as participated in the Texas Education RP3 Network, including facilitating sessions at its convenings. We also participated in the research roundtable at the Asset Funders Network. Texas 2036 staff shared information with the public through media interviews, op-eds, 150 blog posts, original videos, presentations, panel discussions, social media, reports, infographics, one-pagers, and interactive websites. Our work was mentioned in over 550 media reports and our online engagement increased by over 50% during 2024.

At Texas 2036, data informs our work and is used to monitor the resulting progress. In 2024, Texas 2036 continued the expansion and creation of robust, accessible data tools and published reports outlining what the research/data indicates about the future. These resources are available to explore on our website at texas2036.org In 2024, we completed over a dozen new data projects including the production of new publicly accessible data dashboards: The Future of Texas Energy, which provides Texans with the opportunity to understand the future implications of the current and near-term energy system and market conditions and to work together to shape Texas' energy and economic future; We also updated the data in the Texas Advanced Coursetaking Dashboard, and search functionality of our Strategic Framework, an examination of Texas' progress towards 36 aspirational goals in seven policy areas. In addition to online data tools, Texas 2036 produced publicly accessible research including Improving Funding Efficiencies for Classroom-to-Career Programs in Texas, which outlines how a braided funding model can support proven career programs in high schools across the state; a report examining the state of math education in Texas, and how students do not have the level of math proficiency needed to be successful in today's - or tomorrow's - economy. Understanding Texas: The State of Parenting; Making a Texas-sized Impact in Space, which examines how Texas compares to other states in advancing the space sector; The Future of AI in Texas, which explores how Texas is working to reap AI's many benefits while responsibly managing the technology's risks; and updates to our Future Trends of Extreme Weather in Texas report, and our first-of-its-kind report examining the population of Texans without health insurance. During 2024, Texas 2036 conducted its 8th Texas voter poll to understand the perspectives of Texas voters on key policy issues including education and health care and prepared a series of summaries of the lessons from these polls which are publicly accessible in our online Resource Library.