The HB 1605 OER Advisory Panel, which will guide the development of “Open Education Resource” (OER) materials, leans sharply to the religious right, with the appointment of politicians like Republican former presidential candidate Ben Carson.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 31, 2024
CONTACT: Emily Witt (she/hers), [email protected]
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Freedom Network President Val Benavidez today warned that Texas education officials are attempting to hide how right-wing operatives and politicians appointed to a key advisory panel are shaping new state-developed education materials for public schools.
“Parents have a right to know how panelists appointed by Gov. Abbott’s education commissioner will be working behind the scenes to politicize their children’s school lessons,” Benavidez said. “We all should be very concerned that the commissioner’s actions suggest an effort to prioritize political and religious agendas over ensuring students get a quality, fact-based education.”
Education Commissioner Mike Morath has appointed 10 members to the HB 1605 OER Advisory Panel to guide the development of state “Open Education Resource” (OER) materials, as authorized by the Legislature’s passage of HB 1605 last year. Schools get additional state funding if they use an OER curriculum instead of relying on textbooks produced by private publishers.
The advisory panel leans sharply to the religious right, with the appointment of politicians like Republican former presidential candidate Ben Carson, a director for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, and a leader of a conservative evangelical organization. Other appointees include a political science professor at a conservative Bible college and a transportation engineer married to a Republican legislator. Just one of the 10 appointees on the HB 1605 OER Advisory Panel is an education specialist from one of the state’s public universities.
In response to a public information request from the Texas Freedom Network, the Texas Education Agency has asked Attorney General Ken Paxton whether it must make public the guidance, reviews, and recommendations from advisory board members regarding the development of a new Bible-infused, OER reading curriculum. The State Board of Education is considering approval of that curriculum for elementary schools this year. The advisory board will guide the development of OER curriculum materials for other subject areas, such as social studies and science, in the coming years.
“The bottom line is that instead of looking for help primarily from nonpolitical educators and researchers working in our state’s world-class universities, the commissioner is farming out the education of Texas kids to people who favor political agendas over teaching our kids the truth,” Benavidez said. “Even worse, he doesn’t want parents to know just what the panelists are recommending. That seems rather inconsistent, given that the commissioner was appointed by a governor who frequently criticizes public schools and teachers, accusing them of attempting to impose certain ideologies or beliefs on students.”
Advisory board members are also authorized to appoint “delegate” members to aid in the development of the OER curriculum. Although the names of the board members appointed by the commissioner are available on the TEA website, the names of the “delegate” members have not been posted publicly. So it is unknown what credentials and affiliations “delegate” members have.
