AUSTIN, Texas -- In classrooms all across Texas today, students were taught a lesson by a substitute teacher. It’s not because their regular teacher was out sick, but because they don't have a permanent instructor due to a statewide shortage.

Now, the Texas Education Agency is offering a new round of grants, hoping to encourage a career in education. But for some districts, it’s not enough. They need teachers now. So they’re partnering with virtual learning companies.

About 40 Texas school districts have partnered with a virtual learning company called Proximity. Capital Tonight political reporter Kathryn Gisi takes a look at how schools are utilizing the virtual systems.  

Candidate Conversation: Neal Dikeman

Friday is the first face-off between the top two U.S. Senate candidates – Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Beto O’Rourke. The two will debate in Dallas in the first of three match-ups. The stakes are high for both men as polls continue to show a consistently close race.

One person who won't be on Friday's debate stage – the Libertarian candidate, Neal Dikeman. Dikeman is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. Neither a Libertarian nor any other third party candidate has never won state elections in Texas.

But if the race between Cruz and O'Rourke proves to be as tight as some polls suggest, Dikeman could be a spoiler. Dikeman joins us in studio to discuss being left out of the debates, why he’s in this race and his potential spoiler role.

Campaign media strategy

Republicans are being reminded of how expensive it is to campaign in a state the size of Texas. Bloomberg News recently reported how the surprisingly competitive U.S. Senate race between Cruz and O'Rourke threatens to draw resources away from other battleground states.

Katherine McLane, founder and CEO of the Mach 1 Group, joins us to dissect the media strategy, and how Texas is playing into all of that nationally.