There are plenty of smart people in Texas, of course. However, it may be difficult to attract scientific-minded employees to a location where their kids will be taught on a curriculum that rejects science in some regards.
That also hints at the larger culture clash that may result from the "liberal elites" moving to the area. If this migration does happen it'll be interesting to see how the culture in Texas changes.
Last I checked, there are _tons_ of "liberal elites" here (speaking as one of those, I suppose).
Let me check the public schools in my immediate neighborhood (I walk my dog past all of these)... We have two dual-language immersion schools (Spanish/English and Arabic/English), a Montessori school, and one school that doesn't fall into any particular bucket but is highly ranked. Those are the _public_ schools for this neighborhood. If you live here, you're going to one of those three or paying for one of the private (mostly Catholic) schools nearby. Hell, we're not even in one of the "good" school districts... Those are out in the suburbs.
You do realize that Houston _is_ the global R&D center for multiple domains, right? Medicine, Geoscience, several different engineering disciplines.
The migration you're talking about started in the 70's and has been going strong for many decades. As someone who moved here for work after getting a PhD, I can assure you, it's not that hard to "attract scientific-minded employees" here. My previous employer had thousands of positions that required a PhD. The overwhelming majority of those were filled by people who moved here for the job.
Yes, the TX state educational board is fucked up. That doesn't translate to what's taught in most schools in urban areas. It unfortunately _does_ mean that schools have the leeway to teach bizarre stuff, but most in the areas being discussed by this article don't.
The reason folks don't want to move here has more to do with the weather and traffic than anything else. (The weather really does suck half the year, but we get 4-5 really nice months of weather in the winter.)
There are definitely some sprawly areas that I'd recommend avoiding (Houston has more in common with LA than with SF), but by and large, Houston's a great place to live. I walk more or less everywhere I go, have a 110 year old house with a great backyard, and live within walking distance many of the best-rated restaurants and bars as well as downtown. This is the expensive area, and you can still easily buy a house for under $500k.
Where does this happen in Texas public schools? Have you ever been to a populated city like Dallas or Houston? What culture change are you expecting? Texas is already full of liberal elites living in two of the largest cities in America.
Your post reminds me of when I studied abroad and some European exchange students asked me if I rode a horse to school and if the Indians were still around when they found out I was from Texas.
That also hints at the larger culture clash that may result from the "liberal elites" moving to the area. If this migration does happen it'll be interesting to see how the culture in Texas changes.