February 18, 2011
Thomas Jefferson’s view of Education illustrated in this mural by Ezra Winter — Thomas Jefferson’s view of Education is illustrated in this mural by Ezra Winter in the South Reading Room on the top floor of the Adams Building of the Library of Congress. Other murals dedicated to Jefferson decorate all of the reading room’s walls.
Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.
Thomas Jefferson, letter from Paris to James Madison, December 20,1787, stating Jefferson’s objections to the proposed U.S. Constitution
This quotation comes from a letter more popular among Tea Partiers and other troglodytes for Jefferson’s harsh words against “energetic government,” which he feared might result from the Constitution. In the letter Jefferson said that he’d go with the will of the people if the document was ratified (it was). In the end, Jefferson said, just be sure to educate “the common people,” and things would work out to protect liberty.
Wise words much ignored and abused in state capitals and the U.S. Capitol these days.
I’ll wager that among the millions who did not study this letter are Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. An uneducated populace is easier to cow, easier to control, and easier to enslave.
For a larger view of the mural, click on the thumbnail image.
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8 Comments | 
1787, Education, Government, Liberty, Libraries, Texas, Texas Lege, Thomas Jefferson | Tagged: Education, Government, Liberty, Library of Congress, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Thomas Jefferson | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
February 9, 2011
Does the headline pertain to Dallas ISD’s being closed for cold weather for the fifth day in eight, or does it refer to the situations in Austin, where Gov. Rick Perry insists Texas is better off than the rest of the nation with a $25 billion deficit it can’t close, and all education institutions being given solitary confinement or death penalties?
- “Plummeting temperatures, sleet, snow, cause headaches in Dallas-Fort Worth,” Dallas Morning News – “Most area school districts, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton and Dallas, canceled classes, as they were forced to do for four days during last week’s bitter weather. In Frisco, Superintendent Rick Reedy said the threat was too great to hold classes.”
- “Higher education chief pleads for financial aid programs,” Dallas Morning News
- “Upbeat Perry touts Texas’s strengths, dismisses budget ‘doomsayers,'” Dallas Morning News; meanwhile, hoping bad math means voters can’t put two and two together, “Perry demands more money from Congress for Texas schools,” same issue, Dallas Morning News
- “Superintendent of school for visually impaired says Texas could face lawsuits over education cuts,” Dallas Morning News
- “Dallas-area arts groups concerned about proposed state aid cuts,” Dallas Morning News
Photo by Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman; Dallas Morning News caption: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst after delivering the State of the State address Tuesday, said there are 'no sacred cows' in the strapped Texas budget." Reality caption: Texas Emperor Rick Perry gives thumbs up to the lions who will face education's representative, Hypatia, in the Lege Arena fight-to-the-death; Perry promised not to be present for the final moments of the fight.
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7 Comments | Demagoguery, Education, Education spending, Government, Higher education, Politics, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: colleges, Education, Education spending, Federalism, Gov. Rick Perry, Higher education, Politics, State Budgets, Texas, Weather | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 20, 2011
I get e-mail, some of it that offers hope. This one came from Boyd Richie, chair of the Texas Democratic Party:
Dear fellow Democrat,
Earlier this week, the State House version of the budget proposal was set out in black and white. The cost of ten years of Republican rule: a $27 billion budget deficit.
Governor Rick Perry wants Texans to believe the massive budget shortfall is simply the result of the recession – but this is not true. The tax package the Republican-controlled legislature passed in 2006 created a permanent structural deficit that led to the budget crisis facing our state, and now they refuse to take responsibility.
Texas Democrats stand up for the interests of our working families. We demand a quality education for our children because we know this is the key to their ability to compete for the good jobs of tomorrow. However, these budget cuts place public education and other issues critical to Texas’ future economic security under attack. They are short-sighted, hostile to our state’s children and elderly and bound to weaken employment and economic growth:
“The Foolish Five” Proposed Cuts
Jobs:
- 9,600 state jobs eliminated that could cause the loss of 14,400 more jobs. Economist Ray Perryman explained that every lost public sector job creates a “multiplier effect”, resulting in an additional 1.5 jobs lost.
- $1.15 BILLION reduction in Closing the Gap programs, designed to attract students to study in fields that help Texas’ economy. These cuts will negate over one million new jobs and $122 billion in personal income that economist Perryman calculated these programs would create by 2030.
Children:
- $9.8 BILLION in cuts from our public schools
- Elimination of Pre-K Early Start and Early Childhood School Ready program funding, meaning that nearly 200,000 kids will be kicked off these important school-readiness programs.
Elderly:
- $1.57 BILLION cut in nursing home payments
As Democrats, our numbers are down but we are not out – and we will fight these cuts every day on behalf of our working families.
Boyd L. Richie
Chairman
Texas Democratic Party
P.S. Don’t forget to join the Party Insider email list to receive the latest talking points on issues like the budget and other important priorities. Sign-up is quick and easy on the TDP website: http://www.txdemocrats.org/party-insider-sign-up/
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Government, Politics, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: Democratic Party, Economics, Gov. Perry's Deficits, Government, Politics, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 28, 2010
You have the tools to compare the party platforms and determine for yourself which part supports education in Texas — I mean, really supports education, as opposed to using Doublespeak to profess support while angling to get a shiv in the back of education.
You can look at the 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform here. There are brief mentions of education in other sections, but you’ll find education starting on page 12. Texas Democrats put education up front, on page 2 (unofficial version, but the emphasis won’t change).
Education sections of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform appear immediately previous to this post, in eleven sections.
Which party is more favorable to educating our children well?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
5 Comments | 2010 Elections, College, College-ready, Community Colleges, Education, Education Administration, Education assessment, Education quality, Education spending, Higher education, Public education, State school boards, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform, 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform, Community Colleges, Curricula, Education, Education Administration, education funding, Higher education, state board of education, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Tenure | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 28, 2010
This post is eighth in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
MAKING OUR SCHOOLS SAFE HAVENS FOR LEARNING
Texas Democrats believe students, teachers and other school personnel should be safe from acts of violence, and students must be protected from bullying. School campuses and functions must be weapon-free and drug-free. We support swift and fair enforcement of disciplinary standards. Teachers deserve support when they exercise their right to remove a disruptive student from class.
Students referred to disciplinary alternative education programs should continue to receive strong academic instruction. When a student’s misconduct is serious enough to warrant disciplinary placement, the state should make sure that the disciplinary setting – whether a school district’s own disciplinary alternative program or a county’s juvenile-justice alternative education program – offers a full array of educational and social/behavioral services to help that student get back on track. School districts should be discouraged from indiscriminately placing students in disciplinary alternative education programs for trivial misconduct.
We support the Dignity for All Students Act to guarantee safety for all students.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Alternative Education, Bullying, Classroom management, Education, Education Administration, Education success, School discipline, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform, Alternative Education, Dignity for All Students Act, Education, Political conventions, Politics, Safe Schools, School discipline, Schools, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 28, 2010
This post is fifth in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
SOLVING THE DROPOUT CRISIS
Rick Perry may be willing to write off more than a fourth of the school age children in Texas, but Texans can’t afford to pay the price for Perry’s complacency in the face of the dropout crisis. Solving the dropout crisis is a priority for Texas Democrats because it threatens the economic well-being of all Texans, and failure to solve the dropout crisis could write off economic progress for an entire generation. Texas already has more low-wage and minimum wage workers than any other state, and in Texas dropouts earn $7,000 less per year than high school graduates. According to the state demographer, if these trends persist, by 2040, the average annual Texas household income will be $6,500 less than in the year 2000, at a cost to Texas of over $300 billion per year in lost income.
More than one-fourth of Texas high school students fail to graduate on time. For African American and Hispanic students, the dropout rate is more than one-third. Out of all 50 states, Texas has the highest percentage of adults who have not completed high school. However, in response to the Governor’s call for across-the-board budget cuts to address an $18 billion state budget shortfall, his Texas Education Agency recommended cutting programs that have helped keep kids in school and off the street. The economic consequences of such shortsighted policies are stark. Rick Perry’s refusal to address this dropout crisis is making Texas poorer, less educated, and less competitive.
Proper funding of all our schools to meet the needs of students who are most at risk of dropping out is essential. Specific solutions include:
- school-community collaboration that brings educational and social services together under one roof to help at-risk students and their families;
- expanded access to early childhood education, targeting at-risk students;
- dual-credit and early-college programs that draw at-risk students into college and career paths while still in high school;
- equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers, to change current practices that too often match the most at-risk students with the least experienced and least prepared teachers;
- enforce daytime curfew laws to reduce truancy;
providing access to affordable programs for adults who have dropped out of the education process.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | At-risk Students, Dropouts, Economics, Education, Education quality, Education success, Political conventions, Politics, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform, At-risk Students, Dropouts, Economics, Education, Graduateion, Political conventions, Politics, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 28, 2010
This post is fourth in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
EXCELLENT SCHOOLS FOR EVERY STUDENT
To make public education our highest priority, we believe the state should:
- provide universal access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten;
- provide universally accessible after school programs for grades 1-12;
- provide free, accurate and updated instructional materials aligned to educationally appropriate, non-ideological state curriculum standards and tests;
- provide free computer and internet access, as well as digital instructional materials;
- provide early intervention programs to ensure every child performs at grade level in English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science;
- ensure that students with disabilities receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment, including access to the full range of services and supports called for in their individual education plans;
- provide appropriate career and technical education programs;
- reject efforts to destroy bilingual education;
- promote multi-language instruction, beginning in elementary school, to make all students fluent in English and at least one other language;
- replace high-stakes tests, used to punish students and schools, with multiple measures that restore the original intent of the state assessment system–improving instruction to help students think critically, be creative and succeed;
- end inappropriate testing of students with disabilities whose individual education plans call for alternative assessments of their educational progress;
- enforce and extend class size limits to allow every student to receive necessary individualized attention;
- support Title IX protections for gender equity in public education institutions;
- ensure that every school has a fully funded library that meets state requirements;
- provide environmental education programs for children and adults; and
- oppose private school vouchers.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Classroom technology, Education, Education quality, Education reform, Education spending, Political conventions, Politics, Teachers, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform, After-School Program, Bilingual Education, Classroom Computers, Education, education funding, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 28, 2010
This post is third in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING
Texas Democrats believe:
- the state should establish a 100% equitable school finance system with sufficient state revenue to allow every district to offer an exemplary program;
- the state should equitably reduce reliance on “Robin Hood” recapture;
- state funding formulas should fully reflect all student and district cost differences and the impact of inflation and state mandates;
- Texas should maintain or extend the 22-1 class size limits and expand access to prekindergarten and kindergarten programs; and
- the federal government should fully fund all federal education mandates and the Elementary and [Secondary] Education Act.
Republicans have shortchanged education funding every session they have controlled the Texas Legislature. After cutting billions from public education in 2003, the 2006 Republican school funding plan froze per pupil funding, leaving local districts faced with increasing costs for fuel, utilities, insurance and personnel with little new state money. To make matters worse, that same plan placed stringent limits on local ability to make up for the state’s failures.
In 2009, Republicans hypocritically supplanted state support for our schools with the very federal “stimulus” aid they publicly condemned after state revenues plunged because of the Republican-caused recession and the structural state budget deficit they created. They reduced state funding for our schools by over $3 billion. Because our student population continues to grow, the combined reduction in state revenue per student was nearly 13%.
Most Texans support our public schools, yet now Republicans want to cut even more from education and also want to siphon off limited public education funds for inequitable, unaccountable voucher and privatization schemes. Texas Democrats believe these attempts to destroy our public schools must be stopped.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Education, Education quality, Education reform, Education spending, Elections, Teachers, Teaching, Texas, Texas history, Texas Lege | Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform, Education, education funding, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Political conventions, Politics, Public education, Robin Hood Funding, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
July 19, 2009
Tensions between science and religion, and science and business, continue to drag down Texas’s hopes to be known as a major research location.
A hard look shows it’s not just the Deliverance-style local politics at the State Board of Education on science standards. Texas has trouble in a lot of areas.
For example, imagine a hurricane wiped out the town where one of the state’s major medical schools resides, and in the aftermath, rather than working to preserve the jobs of professors who agree to come back to the damaged buildings and storm-wracked town, the university uses the troubles as an excuse to get rid of faculty — not bad faculty, necessarily, just faculty the administration doesn’t like, or doesn’t know, or just for the heck of it.
This ain’t no way to run a medical school.
The rolling disaster that hit the Universityof Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, starting with Hurricane Ike, continued through unexpected layoffs of faculty on top of the 3,000 people laid off due to storm damage. The layoffs were unjustified, too, many thought, and so they appealed. The appeals process seems to have offered only a semblance of justice, to many of those involved, according to an article in The Scientist (free subscription required).
The story hasn’t got much traction in Texas media.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Health care, Higher education, History, Labor and unions, medicine, Science, Texas, Texas Lege | Tagged: Appeals, Faculty, Firings, Health care, labor, Layoffs, Medical School, medicine, Science, Texas, Universityof Texas Medical Branch Galveston | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 28, 2009
A victory in a war that should not be.
Texas Freedom Network carries the news (4:43 p.m. Central) that the Texas State Senate voted 19-11 in favor of Gov. Rick Perry’s nominee to head the State Board of Education, Don McLeroy, a wedge politician who represents the Beaumont area on the board of 15 commissioners. Fortunately for Texas, the nomination needed 20 votes for approval.
Difficulty arises because there is not a candidate on the horizon from among the board’s members who probably has Perry’s favor and who is not a creationist, wedge politician. Technically, Perry could reappoint McLeroy, some observers think, and he could occupy the seat until the next regular session of the Senate in two years.
It’s a story about a road that goes on forever and the bad politics never end.
Press release from TFN below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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5 Comments | Education, Evolution, Government, Politics, Science, State school boards, Texas, Texas Lege, Textbook Selection | Tagged: Don McLeroy, Education, Texas, Texas Lege, Texas State Board of Education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 26, 2009
Molly Ivins’ untimely passing becomes acutely painful when the Texas Lege comes down to the last days of a session. Who can make sense of it without Molly?
We thought a couple weeks ago that Gov. Rick Perry’s nomination of creationist wedge politician Don McLeroy was dead, when the Senate Nominations Committee took testimony and failed to report the nomination, to chair the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).
Then last week, in one of those surprise moves that even the Texas legislators responsible often cannot explain, the nomination rose from the dead and stumbled, zombie-like, to the Senate floor for a vote this week — maybe as soon as today, Tuesday, May 26.
The Houston Chronicle reports that all 12 Senate Democrats will vote against the nomination, dooming it (according to The Lonesome Mongoose, via Pharyngula).
The Bryan dentist has presided over a contentious 15-member State Board of Education that fought over curriculum standards for science earlier this year and English language arts and reading last year. Critics faulted McLeroy for applying his strong religious beliefs in shaping new science standards. McLeroy believes in creationism and that the Earth is about 6,000 years old.
“This particular State Board of Education under the leadership of Dr. McLeroy has been divisive. It’s been dysfunctional, and it has been embarrassing to the point of having commentary on this in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal,” said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
McLeroy’s leadership, she said, had made Texas “the laughing stock of the nation.”
It takes 11 votes to block a gubernatorial nomination. Van de Putte said all 12 Senate Democrats plan to vote against McLeroy
Don’t count your dead nominations before the silver stakes are driven. Stay tuned. Maybe you should call your Texas senator again on Tuesday. Pray, cross your fingers, hope, and pass the ammunition.
If the nomination fails, it is still foggy as Donora, Pennsylvania on its worst days as to who will head the group. The chairman must come from one of the 15 elected members. Most people who might win Rick Perry’s selection are creationists. If Perry is wise, he’ll try to choose someone who is a capable administrator, wise chairman of hearings, and who lacks the desire to annoy key players in education, like administrators, teachers, parents, Texas college presidents and professors, and state legislators. Alas for Texas, Winston Churchill is not a member of the SBOE, nor is Mitt Romney.
The Senate rarely blocks a governor’s appointment.
There is speculation in the Capitol and within the Texas Education Agency that Gov. Rick Perry might elevate Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, to lead the board. Like McLeroy, Dunbar also holds strong Christian beliefs and recently authored a book that advocates more religion in the public square.
“We believe that Texans deserve better than divisive, destructive, extreme leadership,” Shapleigh said. “If the governor chooses to appoint someone more extreme and more divisive, we’ll have to deal with that at the appropriate time.”
McLeroy’s tenure as chairman of SBOE is one of those waves we were warned about in 1983 lin the Excellence in Education Report, which warned of a “rising tide of mediocrity.” The divisions and crude politics, heavy-handed destruction of statutory and regulatory procedures, at best distracts from the drive for better education, but more often leans toward the worst, sabatoging the work of students, teachers, parents, administrators and legislatures.
Do you pray? Pray that Texas education be delivered safely and intact from this time of trial. Whether you pray or not, call your Texas legislator and tell her or him to straighten out the SBOE.
Resources:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Creationism, Darwin, Education, Education quality, Education reform, Evolution, State school boards, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Lege, Textbooks, War on Education | Tagged: Creationism, Don McLeroy, Education, Evolution, Science Standards, Texas Lege, Texas State School Board, Textbooks | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 22, 2009
1 Comment | Humor, Politics, State school boards, Texas, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Lege | Tagged: Don McLeroy, Politics, Science, Social Studies, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Legislature | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 22, 2009
Texans, the information on finding your state representative and state senator are below — call them, today.
In a surprise move, the Senate has moved the nomination of Don McLeroy to the floor for an up-and-down vote.
McLeroy has ushered in a new era of bitter, partisan and divisive politics to the State Board of Education. In the past year he has insulted English teachers, citizens of Hispanic descent, unnecessarily gutted a good mathematics text from the approved list (just to show he can do it), and done his best to butcher science education standards for Texas. He suspended work on new social studies curricula because, in part, he doesn’t like the term “capitalism,” insisting on “free enterprise” instead, contrary to almost all scholarly writing on the topic.
The man is a menace to education. He uses wedge political issues to divide educators from parents, parents from schools, schools from the community, students from teachers, and education from propaganda.
I quote the entirety of the post from Texas Freedom Network’s Insider blog, below, to explain:
UPDATE: Click here to see video of the committee vote.
In a surprise meeting on the Senate floor, the Senate Nominations Committee in Austin has just approved the appointment of Don McLeroy as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. It appears that McLeroy’s supporters plan to bring his confirmation to the full Senate early next week. Confirmation will require a two-thirds vote.
Committee Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, had said he would not bring up McLeroy’s confirmation for a vote in committee unless he thought there were enough votes to get it in the full Senate. We don’t know at this point whether opposition from nearly all Democrats and some Republicans has softened, but the signs are alarming.
If you haven’t done so already, it’s critical that you contact your senator and tell him or her that you oppose McLeroy’s confirmation. You can find the name and contact information for your senator here.
Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller has released the following statement:
“If the Texas Senate genuinely cares about quality public education, they will reject as state board chairman a man who apparently agrees that parents who want to teach their kids about evolution are monsters. And we’ll see whether senators really want a chairman who presides over a board that is so focused on ‘culture war’ battles that it has made Texas look like an educational backwater to the rest of the country.”
Gov. Perry appointed McLeroy board chairman in July 2007. Since then, the board has turned debates over language arts and science curriculum standards in “culture war” battlegrounds. Chairman McLeroy has also endorsed a book that says parents who want to teach children about evolution are “monsters” and calls clergy who see no conflict between faith and science “morons.” This spring McLeroy led other creationists on the state board in adopting new science curriculum standards that call the scientific consensus on evolution into question and no longer include references to scientific estimates of the age of the universe.
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1 Comment | Creationism, Education, Evolution, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Science, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Lege, Textbooks | Tagged: Creationism, Don McLeroy, Education, Education reform, Evolution, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Science, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Legislature, Texas State Board of Education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 14, 2009
In Austin, the Texas Lege stumbles on. No man’s life, liberty, etc.
Steve Schafersman writing at his new blog, Geo.Sphere, gives details probably available nowhere else on bills to overhaul Texas education again, again.
House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 3, the two identical bills being considered in the Legislature now that will change Texas education laws for student assessment, tracking, documentation, and accountability, also affect high school graduation requirements. Unfortunately, anti-education lobbyists have been very successful and the HB3-SB3 bill as currently written delays the implementation of the 4×4 high school curriculum for many years. This will have a very deleterious effect on Texas science and math education, college readiness, allow continuation of the senior-year math and science layoff, and remove the need for a variety of 12th-grade capstone science and math courses.
Yes, you need to call your Texas representatives. Schafersman gives the numbers. Drop by his new blog, get details, get on the phone.
Of course you know, Schafersman is also the head of Texas Citizens for Science.
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Leave a Comment » | Education, Education assessment, Education quality, Science, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science, Texas Lege | Tagged: Education, education standards, Science, Texas, Texas Lege | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
April 23, 2009
Another casualty of my real life crises, trying to keep readers informed about education policy in Texas has suffered here in the Bathtub. My apologies.
The good news is that Don McLeroy’s attempts to eviscerate public school curricula have gotten some attention in the Texas Lege (as Molly Ivins called it). Gov. Rick Perry appointed McLeroy to a full term as chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE), but that appointment needs approval by the Texas Senate. The hearing (if you can call it that) was scheduled for yesterday, and when it actually occurred it became obvious that the senators noticed McLeroy is a one-man wrecking crew, apparently drunk, and loose in the state’s china cabinet.
Will there be more good news, that the Senate can rein in McLeroy?
Steve Schafersman, president of Texas Citizens for Science, has a very complete story on the events at his blog at the Houston Chronicle site, Evosphere. Steve’s piece includes links to several other writings that fully describe the troubled waters that have become the SBOE.
Schafersman points to an article in the Austin American-Statesman by Kate Alexander, which suggests there’s a chance that McLeroy’s nomination might actually be rejected. The Lege leans so far to the right that the right shoulders of their suit coats are scraped by the pavement, but even the legislators understand that snubbing the economists of Texas A&M and every Spanish-speaking Texan is something your mother would not approve of, and shouldn’t be the normal business of an official state agency like the SBOE. (Austin American-Statesman — another of the great daily newspapers in America, still doing outstanding reporting despite staff cutbacks).
Legislators are rightly concerned about the simple incompetence SBOE demonstrates on every subject, not just science, and the general atmosphere of unnecessary bickering McLeroy has fostered. In the latest, but mostly unreported move, SBOE stopped the review of social studies standards by experts and expert teachers in Texas. Among the chief complaints is that the economics team recommended calling capitalism “capitalism.” McLeroy is unhappy with using the appropriate term to describe America’s economic system.
Is it possible to get much more divorced from reality than that, and still keep one’s driving and hunting licenses?
Schafersman has one paragraph that sums up the situation rather well:
Alexander writes: “Shapleigh said there is a perception that McLeroy is using the chairmanship of the State Board of Education as a bully pulpit for promoting his religious point-of-view and pushing it into the public arena.” McLeroy disingenuously denies this, claiming the fight is over different “educational philosophies,” and “that is the source of the controversy, not his religious views.” While that may be true of some actions, such as forcing a traditional English Language Arts curriculum unwanted by ELA professionals on the state and illegally throwing out a mathematics textbook, in most cases the Fundamentalist Protestant Christian religious beliefs of McLeroy and his six cronies on the State Board were definitely behind their actions. These include the adoption of flawed, damaged science standards, the explicit attacks on evolution, the fossil record, and ancient geological ages of the Earth and universe, adoption of a flawed and inadequate Bible curriculum that will permit unscholarly and unscientific Bible instruction, and the frequent threats to publishers–which is a form of extortion that publishers come to expect–to reject their textbooks if they don’t contain sufficient anti-scientific information against evolution and in favor of Intelligent Design Creationism. McLeroy tried to censor textbooks previously in 2003 by threatening publishers, but failed.
What happens if the Senate rejects Perry’s nomination of McLeroy? McLeroy would remain a member of SBOE. Who, or whether, Perry would appoint to replace McLeroy has not been discussed. Do any of the current members have the respect of a majority of the board, enough to do the job? Is anyone on the board capable of administering the group when religious fanatics appear so hell bent on shattering foundations of public education?
Don’t get hopes up. Rejecting McLeroy’s nomination might be the rational thing to do, but it might push Perry to even deeper acts of irrationality in appointing a new chair, difficult though it may be to imagine that.
Stay tuned.
Resources:
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1 Comment | Education, Government, History, Science, Social Studies, State school boards, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science, Texas Freedom Network, Texas history, Texas Lege | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
May 21, 2009 at 9:23 pm Question: What do Don McLeroy and a catfish have in common?
Answer: A distant ancestor.
This might help to explain some of the behavior we’re seeing.