Texas legislators this year claim they finally want to do a better job making sure public schools have the funds they need to educate our state’s schoolchildren. Well, the House Public Education Committee isn’t helping after last week approving a bill on posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. In fact, that bill is a church-state train wreck that could tie up school districts in […]
Ten Commandments
The Voices in Dan Flynn's Head
Dan Flynn, R-Van State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, is of two (or three) minds when it comes to the role religion should play in American law and society. Warning: Do not try to reconcile these statements, all of which were made over the last five months. Flynn, on the urgent need to post the 10 commandments […]
Resolved: Texas Doesn’t Care about the Constitution
Moses State Rep. Phil Stephenson, R-Wharton In week full of religious liberty skirmishes at the Texas Capitol, we would be remiss if we did not flag the most ridiculous church-state proposal we’ve seen this session: HCR 58 by state Rep. Phil Stephenson, R-Wharton — a publicity stunt masquerading as a House Concurrent Resolution. The resolution concludes: […]
Department of Redundancies Department
We’ll give this to him: he’s persistent. On the first day (today) that lawmakers can file bills for the 2013 session of the Texas Legislature, state Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, has proposed a bill — House Bill 49 — requiring public high school students to take a course on the U.S. Constitution. Seems reasonable? Of […]
Most GOP Candidates for Texas Ed Board Support Teaching ‘Weaknesses’ of Evolution, Posting Ten Commandments in Public Schools
During the Texas State Board of Education‘s debate over science curriculum standards in 2008, supporters of sound science education succeeded in killing a provision that would have required students to learn creationism-inspired arguments about the “weaknesses” of evolution. But nine Republicans in state board races apparently will insist that new biology textbooks include those bogus […]