8:30 a.m. – The Texas State Board of Education board room near the Capitol in Austin is packed this morning, with folks from around the state waiting to testify on proposed new public school science curriculum standards — and the pressure groups pushing creationism are out in force. The Discovery Institute in Seattle and Texans for […]
Textbook Censorship
Sweeping Away the SBOE’s Authority
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 […]
The SBOE’s ‘Hall of Shame’
In the Texas Freedom Network’s nearly 14 years of existence, we have seen plenty of nonsense come out of the Texas State Board of Education. Board members have attacked health textbooks for including even basic information on contraception and photographs of women in professional careers (rather than sufficiently promoting stay-at-home moms as the ideal). They […]
Will the SBOE Get Called into the Principal’s Office?
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 […]
Dunbar Strikes Again
Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, made news last month when she charged that President-elect Barack Obama “truly sympathizes” with enemies out to destroy America. Now guess what Dunbar has to say about the public education system she helps govern. From a Texas Freedom Network press release today: In her book, One Nation Under […]
