Oklahoma Senate Says: ‘Sue Our Schools!’

Well, that’s not really what the Oklahoma Senate said, but it might as well have. On Thursday the chamber passed a bill that would allow elective courses about the Bible in the state’s public schools. But Oklahoma senators did something really, really foolish: the bill mandates that course materials come from the National Council on […]

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American-Statesman Talks with SBOE Winner

UPDATE: Nathan Bernier at Austin’s public radio station, KUT, also talked to Clayton. One thing is becoming clear: he’s not an ideologue. He calls arguments about teaching “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution just “code words for creationism.” Check out the interview here. George Clayton‘s Republican primary victory over longtime Texas State Board of Education incumbent Geraldine “Tincy” Miller […]

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Voters Spank Far Right in SBOE Elections

First, the good news: At least two members of the Texas State Board of Education’s far-right faction won’t be there in 2011. Cynthia “Public Education Is a Tool of Perversion” Dunbar, R-Richmond, got so much heat for her extremism — including outrageous attacks on public schools — that she decided not to run for re-election. […]

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Election Updates

The polls in Texas (except for El Paso) closed a 7 p.m. CST. We’ll try to provide updates on the results in State Board of Education races as we get them. Below are the five big contests we’re following. (I) means incumbent. Updated at 12:40 a.m. This is the last update of the night. The […]

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A Plea for Change on the SBOE

As we all wait for election results this evening, check out Paul Burka’s excellent essay about the State Board of Education that just went online at Texas Monthly. Money quotes: “I do not toss around the term ‘far right’ groundlessly. Here is how retiring board member Cynthia Dunbar describes the institution of public education in […]

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