For Texans concerned by the State Board of Education‘s efforts to politicize public school classrooms over the past four years, 2011 has begun with encouraging signs. Four of six far-right candidates, including incumbent Don McLeroy, R-College Station, lost their election races last year. That alone will affect the balance of power between the board’s once-dominant […]
Education
The Year in Quotes: Religious Freedom
Threats to religious freedom — and the constitutional protections for that freedom — were evident in much of the far right’s political rhetoric in 2010. Some right-wing politicians even sought to turn religion and government into enemies by using faith as a political weapon. You can read more of our review of what the far […]
The Year in Quotes: The Texas SBOE
It’s time for our annual review of what we heard from the far right over the past year. We’ll start with some of the nonsense uttered by members of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) in 2010. “One of the first real breaches of limited government was public education.” — SBOE member Don McLeroy, […]
Rick Perry’s War on Christmas
In his 2008 book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For, Texas Gov. Rick Perry criticizes the American Civil Liberties Union for supposedly engaging in a “war on Christmas” by forcing schools to remove references to Christmas in holiday programs and decorations. Last year one of Gov. […]
Petty Politics at the SBOE
Just before each legislative session, the Texas State Board of Education votes on a list of education priorities they want state lawmakers to consider. With redistricting and closing a massive budget deficit likely to take up the bulk of the Legislature’s time, one would think that state board members would be careful in choosing their […]
