New finance reports show that fundraising so far for Texas State Board of Education campaigns appears to be significantly higher than in many past elections. But fundraising totals in most races this year are still relatively small considering the size of the sprawling board districts in play. District 5 (Ken Mercer, incumbent), for example, begins in […]
In today’s Texas Tribune story about the State Board of Education‘s management of the Permanent School Fund (PSF), much of the focus has been on this inane quote from board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna: “If you sit on the mental health commission, do you have to be retarded? If you sit on the [Texas […]
This month’s Texas State Board of Education debate over proposed new social studies curriculum standards provided many opportunities to see censorship at work. One of the most revealing instances of this came when state board member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, proposed adding Margaret Sanger and John Dewey to a list of individuals for high school American history students to study. […]
This month’s Texas State Board of Education meeting featured many examples of how poorly informed some board members really are. Over a two-day period, the board picked apart a proposed draft of new social studies curriculum standards that teachers, scholars and other community members had spent a year researching, discussing and debating. Often the amendments […]
One of the most heated exchanges during Friday’s debate by Texas State Board of Education members over new social studies curriculum standards came during discussion on a standard about women and ethnic minorities working to overcome discrimination in the past. The proposed standard for high school U.S. history read: “Explain actions taken by people from different […]
