As Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton joined the Justice Department on June 4, 2025 in asking a federal court to strike down the 2001 Texas law that let undocumented students who grew up in Texas pay in-state tuition, and the court did. Those students now face out-of-state tuition at Texas public universities.
In March 2025 Paxton stood with President Trump at the signing of the order to close the Education Department and praised it as returning "education back to the states." The dismantling he praised had already closed the department's Dallas civil rights hub, which handled every civil rights complaint from Texas. In July 2025 Paxton also praised the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which creates an uncapped federal tax credit for private school scholarships that Texas has joined.
Ken Paxton's Actions and Statements on Texas Schools and Colleges
- Paxton Helped End In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students in Texas in June 2025. On June 4, 2025, within hours of a federal lawsuit targeting Texas' policy, Ken Paxton's office asked the court to side with the Justice Department, and the court struck down the 2001 law that let undocumented students who grew up in Texas pay in-state tuition. Paxton called it "a major victory for Texas." The Hechinger Report found that the Texas attorney general's office and the Trump administration worked together to end the provisions. At UT Tyler, in-state tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year total $9,736, compared to more than $25,000 for out-of-state students, and one student there, who had been awarded $10,000 a year in scholarships, withdrew because her family could not pay the higher bill. In July 2026 a federal appeals court denied an appeal seeking to restore the Texas Dream Act.
- Paxton Praised Trump's Order to Close the Education Department in March 2025. On March 20, 2025, Ken Paxton was in the room as President Trump signed an executive order instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Education Department, and he posted: "I'm proud to stand with @POTUS as he returns education back to the states." The order followed the department's March 2025 cut of its workforce by nearly half, from 4,133 employees to 2,183, which the Supreme Court allowed in July 2025, and in November 2025 the administration moved six programs within the department to other federal agencies. Its Office for Civil Rights shut seven of its regional offices, including the one in Dallas, and dismissed more than 6,000 complaints without an investigation. Before Trump took office about 12,000 complaints were pending, more than half concerning students with disabilities. A Quinnipiac poll in March 2025 found that 60% of voters oppose such plans to close the department, while 33% support them.
- Paxton Praised the Law That Created an Uncapped Federal Tax Credit for Private School Scholarships. Ken Paxton posted on July 1, 2025 that the Senate-passed bill was "One step closer to massive tax cuts," and on July 3, 2025 that "President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is HISTORIC legislation." Section 70411 of the law creates a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer for donations to private school scholarship groups, starting with tax years ending after December 31, 2026, in states that opt in, and Texas has opted in. EdTrust estimates the credit could cost the federal government as much as $56 billion annually, and that the families eligible for the scholarships make up about 90% of all families in the U.S., including the very wealthy. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy notes that the final law discards the budgetary safeguard included in the House version.
What Ken Paxton's Education Record Means for Texas Students
- Civil rights complaints. The Education Department's Dallas office was handling every civil rights complaint coming out of Texas before it closed, and those complaints will likely be redirected to the Kansas City office, the Texas Tribune reported. Texas schools receive about $1.3 billion a year in federal special education funds, and disability advocates told the Tribune they have counted on federal oversight to hold Texas accountable.
- Race discrimination probes. In Lubbock County, parents say racist incidents in schools are going unchecked after the Office for Civil Rights retreated from investigating schools in Lubbock County, Texas, where an investigator's planned visit, ahead of protections negotiated with the Lubbock-Cooper school district, did not happen, the Hechinger Report found in December 2025.
- In-state tuition. An undocumented student from Houston who had planned to attend UT Tyler enrolled at Houston Community College instead after the in-state tuition law was struck down, the Hechinger Report found.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ken Paxton on Education
What is Ken Paxton's record on education under Trump?
Ken Paxton's office worked with the Trump Justice Department to end in-state tuition for undocumented students who grew up in Texas, and a federal appeals court has refused to restore it. He praised Trump's order to close the Education Department, whose dismantling had already shut the Dallas civil rights hub that handled Texas complaints. He also praised the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which creates a federal private school tax credit that Texas has joined.
Does Ken Paxton support closing the Department of Education?
Yes. Ken Paxton attended the March 20, 2025 signing of Trump's order to begin closing the Education Department and posted "I'm proud to stand with @POTUS as he returns education back to the states." The White House listed his statement among the reactions it published that day.
Did Ken Paxton end in-state tuition for undocumented students in Texas?
Ken Paxton's office asked a federal court to side with the Justice Department on June 4, 2025, within hours of the department's lawsuit, and the court struck down the 2001 Texas Dream Act that day. Students, advocacy groups and colleges tried to intervene to defend the law, and a federal appeals court panel denied their appeal 2-1 in July 2026.
What does the federal school voucher tax credit mean for Texas?
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Ken Paxton praised, Texas taxpayers can claim a federal credit of up to $1,700 for gifts to private school scholarship groups from 2027, because Texas has opted in. EdTrust estimates the credit has no overall cap and could cost the federal government as much as $56 billion a year.
Last updated: 2026-10-25