Does Texas State Rep. Steve Toth's Word Mean Much?

UPDATE: The Texas House gave final passage to SB 1406 this morning. The bill now goes to Gov. Perry for his signature or veto. *** State Rep. Steve Toth’s commitment on Monday to pull down the CSCOPE bill he is sponsoring in the Texas House of Representatives had a shelf life of less than 12 […]

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Texas SBOE Member Ratliff Tears into Sen. Patrick on CSCOPE Decision

Thomas Ratliff’s defeat of creationist Don McLeroy in the 2010 Republican Primary for the District 9 seat on the State Board of Education was an important step toward getting politics out of Texas public school classrooms. Now Ratliff, who currently serves as the state board’s vice chairman, has released a blistering critique of state Sen. […]

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Witch Hunt Takes Down CSCOPE

Once again, politics trumps education in Texas. State Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican chairman of the Texas Senate Education Committee, sounded downright gleeful today in making a surprise announcement that the state’s Education Service Centers will no longer provide lessons in their CSCOPE curriculum management system. “The era of CSCOPE lesson plans has come to […]

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You Give 'em an Inch …

… they’ll give you the axe. Or at least try to. From the start, the CSCOPE hysterics have demanded accountability and transparency from whatever they think CSCOPE is. Well, they’re getting it (there was a public meeting today from which we’ll have a report soon). And they’ve gotten it (there was a public meeting last […]

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So Where Are They?

For months Tea partyers and other assorted activists on the right have attacked the developers of the CSCOPE curriculum management system for supposedly doing their work in secrecy. They’ve screamed that parents and taxpayers are kept in the dark while the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) writes lessons that (allegedly) indoctrinate students into […]

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