Education

// The Texas Freedom Network has assembled a nonpartisan voter guide to inform citizens about the positions of candidates for the State Board of Education.

All information reported here was provided directly by each candidate or campaign in response to a questionnaire. 

The guide is divided into two categories: the state board’s authority and process, and education issues that have or may come before the board. Click on one of the categories below to see where candidates stand on that issue. (We have included responses only from candidates who completed the questionnaire.)

*Denotes incumbent

State Board of Education Authority and Process

Question: Teachers and academic scholars should have primary responsibility for writing curriculum standards and textbook requirements for Texas public schools.… Read More

Opponents of private school vouchers delivered a strong message to Texas House Public Education Committee members at a public hearing on Monday: stop trying to use tax dollars to subsidize private and religious schools at the expense of our neighborhood public schools. Read More

On Tuesday the Texas Freedom Network joined a broad array of coalition partners at a rally to call on the State Board of Education to reject the error-riddled, deeply offensive Mexican American Heritage textbook submitted for adoption in Texas. TFN President Kathy Miller (speaking in the photo above) was one of the speakers at the rally just before the state board began a public hearing on the textbook. Other speakers included scholars, community leaders, activists and representatives of partner organizations in the Responsible Ethnic Studies Textbook Coalition. Read More

Cynthia Dunbar is upset that scholars don't like her deeply flawed and outrageously offensive Mexican American Heritage textbook, which the State Board of Education (SBOE) is considering for adoption for Texas public schools this year. So now the right-wing, former SBOE member (and current Donald Trump supporter) is offering a rather absurd defense of the text. Read More

Textbook Reinforces Racial Stereotypes, Distorts History, Scholars Say

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 18, 2016

AUSTIN – A broad coalition of organizations from across Texas is calling on the State Board of Education (SBOE) to reject a proposed Mexican-American studies textbook that promotes offensive cultural stereotypes, distorts history and is plagued by factual errors.

“This textbook has no place in a Texas classroom, especially in a course that focuses on teaching about the contributions of Mexican Americans in our country’s history,” said Celina Moreno, representing the Texas Latino Education Coalition (TLEC), in speaking out against the Mexican American Heritage textbook from publisher Momentum Instruction. “The textbook not only insults Mexican Americans, but also African Americans and other people of color. Every parent and taxpayer should take offense that such a poorly researched and written textbook would even be considered for use in Texas public schools.”

Moreno spoke at a press conference launching the Responsible Ethnic Studies Textbook (REST) Coalition. Member organizations include education groups like TLEC, the Rio Grande Valley Coalition for Mexican American Studies, and the Mexican American School Board Members Association (MASBA). Community and civil rights groups like MALDEF, Texas LULAC, the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers… Read More