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AUSTIN As Texas looks toward its bicentennial, Texas 2036 is releasing a new data-driven roadmap to make the state the best place to live and work.
Reflecting more than six years of research and analysis, “Shaping Our Future: A Strategic Framework for Texas” was created by Texas 2036 and endorsed by its 36 nonprofit, nonpartisan board members as a resource for state officials, influencers and the public.
Released before the 88th Texas Legislature, the Strategic Framework provides detailed, comprehensive data to inform key decisions about the state’s most important issues – for example, is the state’s education system properly preparing the next generation of the workforce? Are Texans confident in their ability to get affordable health care? What is the state of Texas infrastructure?
This second edition of the Strategic Framework is accompanied by a new interactive dashboard, which allows Texas policymakers and the public to see opportunities and obstacles and compare Texas’ progress with other major states.
Texas 2036 emphasizes reliance on relevant, reliable data as a key organizational value, and the report lays out over 150 metrics to show the state’s progress toward achieving these goals. In addition, the Strategic Framework provides Texans with a clear view of how the state is performing against peers across all of these metrics that the organization has identified as keys to continued success in the future. These peer states include California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
Among the key findings of the framework when reviewing the latest performance indicators are:
Education and the workforce: Too few students in Texas can read at grade level. In the 2021-2022 school year, only 50% of third graders could read on grade level. Early learning disabilities hinder students’ success in future education, where today fewer than one in three high school graduates earn a diploma six years after graduation.
This rate is almost the lowest rate compared to 11 similar states. Today, only 56% of Texas households earn above the Living Wage threshold (or $54,852 for a family of four). Texas ranks eighth among 12 peer states in providing jobs for its residents, behind lower-performing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Health and health care: Rising prices have made health care unaffordable, even for those with insurance. Texas 2036 tracks a metric that asks if individuals had to see a doctor, but not because of the cost. Texas ranks last (12th out of 12) among peer states. A related metric asks about any care or treatment needed, including prescription drugs. To this extent, 59% of Texans said they skipped care because of cost – including 56% of insured Texans.
Infrastructure: Texas’ population is projected to increase by nearly 25% by 2036 to more than 38 million residents, which will put Texas’ broadband and energy infrastructure to the test. Approximately three million households in Texas lack access to high-speed Internet service – indicating that more work must be done to close the digital divide.
Natural Resources: As our population increases over the next 50 years, so will our demand for water. Based on the Texas Water Development Board’s 2022 Water Plan, projected demand will increase from 17.7 million acre-feet this decade to 19.2 million acre-feet by the 2070s. Unfortunately, the plan also predicted that the amount of water available from rivers, reservoirs and aquifers would decrease from 16.8 million acre feet this decade to 13.8 million acre feet in the 2070s due to sedimentation of our rivers and lakes and depletion groundwater resources.
Justice and Security: In 2020, Texas had a 91% resolution rate for criminal court cases and 81% for civil court cases, ranking fifth and seventh, respectively, out of nine reporting peer states and indicating a growing backlog subject. Clearance rates below 100% mean a growing backlog of cases, showing that Texas courts are falling further behind in delivering justice to victims, defendants, litigants and communities.
Also, at 19%, Texas ranks 25th in the nation and ninth among peer states in the percentage of children who experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences in 2019-2020. ACEs are stressful events that can lead to chronic toxic stress without mitigation or buffering support.
Government Performance: Texas’ state budget revenues ranked fourth most volatile among 12 peer states. Volatile and inconsistent sources of revenue can contribute to an unstable budget environment, weakening the capacity to consistently fund key government services.
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