Chapel Hill ISD announced Friday, August 28, 2026, that Emily Greer, a fine arts teacher at Jackson Elementary, has been named one of six statewide finalists for the 2027 Texas Teacher of the Year. The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) selected Greer and five others from 40 Regional Teachers of the Year across Texas for this distinction, which is the highest honor the State of Texas can bestow upon an educator.
Chapel Hill ISD Superintendent Lamond Dean praised Greer's impact, noting she has served Jackson Elementary for "almost two decades." Dean called her commitment to student growth "phenomenal." Greer instructs students from three-year-old Head Start and prekindergarten through third grade. Through music, art, and theater, she encourages children to explore new things and discover abilities they may not have known they possessed.
Greer’s path to the statewide competition began with local and regional accolades. She has been recognized three times as Jackson Elementary Teacher of the Year (2011, 2019, and 2026) and has received multiple Teacher of the Month honors. In 2016, Humanities Texas named her an Outstanding Teacher of the Humanities. More recently, Greer was selected as Chapel Hill ISD’s 2026 Elementary and Overall Teacher of the Year, which advanced her to become the 2027 Region 7 Elementary Teacher of the Year. This regional honor positioned her among the 40 regional honorees vying for the statewide award.
The final selection process includes interviews for the six finalists on October 15. A panel comprising representatives from educational leadership associations, community and business leaders, a member of the State Board for Educator Certification, a member of the State Board of Education, and previous Texas Teachers of the Year will conduct these interviews. The panel will choose the Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year and the Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year. One of these two will be designated to represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year program.
The winners will be announced October 16 during an awards ceremony at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Round Rock. All 40 Regional Teachers of the Year will also be recognized at the event. The Texas Teacher of the Year program, which began honoring classroom excellence in 1969, has been facilitated by TASA since 2011, rewarding educators for outstanding leadership and teaching.
