Texas Freedom Network has just sent out the following Action Alert:
Time and again over the last three years, Chairman Don McLeroy and the far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) have demonstrated their willingness to push an extremist agenda and sacrifice quality public education at the altar of partisan politics. Yet unbelievably, Gov. Rick Perry has nominated McLeroy to a second term as chair.
The decision currently before the state Senate — to confirm or deny McLeroy’s appointment — is a clear referendum on the outrageous antics of the State Board of Education. If he is allowed to continue as chair, SBOE members will see a green light for continuing their damaging pattern of ignoring the law and disregarding experts and teachers.
This is our chance to send a strong message to the board that “enough is enough.”
What Can You Do?
The Senate Nominations Committee has left SBOE Chairman Don McLeroy’s confirmation pending, and it’s important for EVERY SENATOR to hear that McLeroy is the wrong choice to lead the State Board of Education. (Click here to find your Senator.)Why Does It Matter?
Religious-right pressure groups, including the Texas chapter of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and the Texas Pastor Council, have unleashed a flurry of calls urging legislators to support the SBOE. And their calls are having an effect. We have heard from senators that they are swamped with calls demanding McLeroy’s confirmation. Further, earlier today the House reversed a previous vote and rejected HB 710, a common-sense measure that would have put the State Board of Education under periodic review by the Sunset Advisory Commission. This change of heart is obviously a capitulation to pressure from far-right groups.Now it is time for mainstream Texans to weigh in. Not hesitantly. Not in small numbers. The almost 5 million children in Texas who attend public school deserve a quality education, and they will not get it as long as the McLeroy-led board drags our schools into the culture wars.
Please call your senator TODAY and urge her or him to oppose Don McLeroy’s confirmation as chair of the SBOE. And ask everyone you know who cares about public schools to do the same.
This isn’t a partisan issue. Whether your senator is a Democrat or Republican, it’s important to call or e-mail that office. It’s past time for legislators to put the education of our children ahead of party loyalty and political agendas.
Formal definition of the term “Christian Nation”
A United States nation state where fundamentalist Christians can feel physically secure, be certain that their religious beliefs are the sole driving force in government and society, and be free from criticism of those beliefs. This necessarily requires that everyone else must feel physically insecure, feel uncertain in their religious beliefs, and live under constant criticism of those beliefs until their is no choice left except to give in, move to another country, or die.