State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has just filed legislation that would strip the Texas State Board of Education of all authority assigned to it by statute. Among the board’s powers that would go away: setting curriculum standards and adopting textbooks. That authority would be transferred to the Texas Education Agency. The only authority the board would […]
It appears that Texas lawmakers are beginning to look at ways to rein in an out-of-control State Board of Education. Today state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, pre-filed a bill for the coming legislative session that would make state board elections nonpartisan. Recent controversies make clear the need to take ideology and partisanship out of races for […]
When listening to the claims of creationists on the Texas State Board of Education, a political thesaurus would be helpful. The board’s far-right bloc has asked the people of Texas to have a little faith. Its members are not, they claim, interested in having public school science classes teach students about creationism, “intelligent design” or any other […]
7:54 p.m. – Once again, a creationist board member (who makes a living as a weekly newspaper editor), challenges a scientist on his knowledge of science. Really. 8:10 p.m. – Board Chairman McLeroy just said he doesn’t know of any board member who has ever advocated teaching creationism in public schools. That’s not true, and […]
4 p.m. – The State Board of Education hearing on proposed new public school science standards is finally starting. Former state board member Joe Bernal, D-San Antonio, is up first. Bernal calls on board members to listen to real science experts who object to teaching students phony arguments about “weaknesses” of evolution. It doesn’t take […]
