Mercer debate claims don't pass the smell test

by: Blue_in_Guadalupe

Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 10:32 PM CST

Ken Mercer also claimed that while the curriculum writing teams are required by law to involve participation of teachers, parents and business people; only teachers were involved. For this to be true none of the 102 team members must have any children, I find that highly improbable.

Mr. Mercer claims that conservative historians in classrooms were shut out of the process. Given that Republicans hold a 2 to 1 advantage on the board and appointed 67 of the 102 team members that is an absurd assertion. Can he seriously believe that not a single conservative was named to the teams with kind of majority? But wait, if he's so concerned about the lack of conservatives, parents and business people why didn't he bother to nominate even a single person to the teams?

State Board of Education District 10 candidate forum

by: Joanne Richards

Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 03:00 PM CST

Poorly understood and often overlooked, the SBOE has great influence over public education in Texas. It decides the curriculum standards that determine what teachers are to teach and what students should learn. It adopts and licenses textbooks for use in Texas public schools. It also determines passing scores for the TAKS test, approves creation of charter schools, and oversees the investment of the billions of dollars in the Permanent School Fund.

The board has long been a "culture war" battleground, but in recent years battles over divisive social issues have increasingly dominated the board's work. Contentious issues have included creationism vs. evolution in science classes, abstinence-only vs. abstinence-plus sex education classes, downplaying the contributions of minorities, women, different cultures in history, and blurring the line separating religion and government.

Instead of working for excellence in education for our children, some representatives have spurned the advice of the experts they appointed, many of whom have worked for over a year on their charge.  In place of the experts' advice, some have imposed their personal opinions, often based on religious conviction and not facts, on Texas' public school students. The education of our children should not be a partisan matter. This ill-serves our children.

The reason we are often poorly represented and poorly served on the SBOE is that candidates often run unopposed and voter turnout is low.  The upcoming election is already proving to be different!  There are 6 candidates for District 10 SBOE election!  They are Democrat Judy Jennings; Republicans Marsha Farney, Rebecca Osborne, and Brian Russell; Libertarian Jessica Dressen and Green Party candidate J.D. Porter. I urge all District 10 voters, no matter what your party affiliation, to come to the candidates forum sponsored by the Bastrop PTA Council, on Thursday February 18th at 6:30 PM in the Bastrop High School Cafeteria.   Come and ask questions of the District 10 candidates.  Read their literature! Then go vote!  One of them will represent you.  Early voting for the primary is February 16-28, Primary Election day is March 2, early voting for the General Election is October 18-29, and General Election day is November 2. Texas children are counting on you!

*State Board of Education District 10 includes the part of Travis County north of the river, parts of Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties, and the counties of Austin, Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, Lee, Milam, Waller, Washington, and Williamson.

Joanne Richards
Education First SBOE-10
educationfirstsboe10.org

SBOE Fundraising: Non-Crazies Leading in Important Races

by: Michael Hurta

Wed Jan 27, 2010 at 02:10 PM CST

With the SBOE, there are really only one or two districts where Democrats can reasonably hope to take away from Republicans, but the story on that board is not so much Democrats vs. Republicans.  In the SBOE, somehow, one major group is of crazy conservatives who want to isolate Texas into a Christian and potentially unproductive box.  The other group: rational people, both Democrats and Republicans, who want to ensure that Texas children are prepared to compete in the global economy.

There are four important seats where that way-too-extreme social conservatism is being fought tooth-and-nail.  One is SBOE 3, where Democrat Rick Agosto has embarrassingly been a swing vote with the crazies.  He's been pushed to not running for reelection, and Michael Soto is expected to take his place and do well.

The other important races are in districts 5, 9, and 10.  The Texas Freedom Network did a nice roundup of SBOE fundraising, so let's take a look at these three districts.

SBOE District 5

This district stretches from Bexar County to southern Travis County and includes the Hill Country.

Republican Primary

Ken Mercer (I): $8,035.00 in contributions, in $3,639.05 cash on hand

Tim Tuggey: $60,330.58 in contributions, in $24,945.65 cash on hand

Democratic Primary

Rebecca Bell-Metereau: $17,797 in contributions, in $6,414.44 cash on hand

Robert Bohmfalk: no report available yet

Daniel Boone: $4,176.72 in contributions, in $3,457.72 cash on hand

Josiah Ingalls: $350 in contributions, in $36.15 cash on hand

There are a lot of Democrats who think that Rebecca Bell-Metereau has a decent shot, and she is certainly leading the other Democrats in fundraising as well as social conservative incumbent Ken Mercer.  

But the real challenge to Mercer might be in his own party.  Tim Tuggey is absolutely dominating the money race.  He's spent more than half what he has received, but he still has about 3 times more on hand than Mercer has raised at all.  If his spending is wise, we'll see Mercer knocked off in March.

District 9

This largely East-Central Texas district stretches from Plano to Bryan-College Station.

Don McLeroy (I): $1,200 in contributions, $611.33 in cash on hand

Thomas Ratliff: $15,173.20 in contributions, $8,098.50 in cash on hand

District 9 is a definitely Republican district, which could hurt Ratliff.  But he still is significantly leading McLeroy, and he has his father's name.  Don McLeroy is possibly the most dangerous member of the State Board of Education.  So, go Thomas Ratliff!

District 10

This district stretches from Williamson and northern Travis County to just west of Houston. Republican incumbent Cynthia Dunbar is not running for re-election.

Republican Primary

Marsha Farney: no contributions, no cash on hand

Rebecca Osborne: $5,416.00 in contributions, $5,515.09 in cash on hand

Brian Russell: $8,229.40 in contributions, $7,455 in cash on hand

Democrat

Judy Jennings: $15,900 in contributions, $14,072.31 in cash on hand

Cynthia Dunbar, as you probably know, is in that McLeroy-level of dangerousness.  Thankfully, she's not running.  But her hand-picked successor, Brian Russell, is probably just as bad.  He's leading the Republican money race, but Rebecca Osborne has been campaigning longer.

Thankfully, Judy Jennings beats both of us.  District 10 contains about half of Travis County, and it is also the absolutely best chance for a Democrat to take a seat that a Republican has held.  This is a clear toss-up seat, so seeing Jennings' lead is a surely comforting sign.

Learning Curve; or, Wishful Thoughts for the SBOE

by: Michael Soto

Tue Jan 12, 2010 at 00:34 PM CST

Not a championship season Willie Stargell card.

Not a mint condition Pete Rose rookie card.

Not even an autographed Roger Staubach card. (The Cowboys legend was another hero, so mixing baseball with football doesn't tarnish my logic too much.)

Would I part with J.R. Richard for Stargell, Rose, and Staubach? It's just a card, right?

Wrong.

Anyone who grew up loving baseball knows that a card isn't just a card. And what's true of recent sports history is truer still of America's intricate and splendid past.

The ongoing debate surrounding social studies standards in Texas public schools too often sounds like an unfunny parody of baseball card trading done by bratty kids who never really played the game.

SBOE 10: Radical Cynthia Dunbar Wants to Leave; Appoint Successor

by: Michael Hurta

Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 00:31 PM CST

The bad news: Ms. Dunbar plans to pick her successor.

Via the Quorum Report:

APPEARS DUNBAR WILL NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION TO SBOE
SREC member Brian Russell says she recruited him to run for her open seat.

Republican Cynthia Dunbar, a lightning rod for controversy on the State Board of Education for her ultra-conservative views, appears to have told supporters she will not run for a second term on the board and likely will be replaced on the ballot by Austin intellectual property attorney Brian Russell, who currently serves on the State Republican Executive Committee.

Another clue she may not be running: Her website, cynthiadunbar.com, brings you to a pretty looking website that mentions the State Board of Education relatively little.  Completely ignored is cynthiadunbar.com/index.htm, which directs you to a campaign site as of this posting.

He may not be quite as virally appalling as Ms. Dunbar or her colleague Don McLeroy, but  Brian Russell is also a Christian Conservative that would put politics before education.

A few facts about Mr. Russell:

• He appears on Ms. Dunbar's election endorsement list.
• He endorses Governor Rick Perry for reelection.
• As Austin's member on the State Republican Executive Committee, he signed a letter about the 2009 Speakers race.  The letter implied that the Anybody-but-Craddick Republicans were "working against their own Party."
• He is the Austin contact and "Volunteer" with the Texas Eagle Forum.  If you don't remember, this is the far-right conservative organization from where Cathie Adams hailed.
• Most significantly, he led SREC push for Republicans on the State Board of Education to fight for examining the "strengths and weaknesses" of all theories in science classes, including the theory of creationists.

Hopefully, the Republican primary voters will pass on Mr. Russell.  The party has a reasonable looking candidate in Rebecca Osborne.  Unfortunately, she no longer has Cynthia Dunbar's absolutely repugnant record to fight against.  And Republican primaries tend to favor the more conservative.

That also means that the Democratic candidate also won't be able to fight against such repulsiveness.  With Lorenzo Sadun stepping aside, now could be a prime opportunity to help Judy Jennings.  She's currently the only Democratic candidate for the SBOE 10 seat, which is the only seat Democrats can reasonably hope to gain in 2010 .  Right now, it looks like we'll need our candidate to be strong.  We need a candidate that will win over Texans in the fight for truly better schools.

Update: We still do not have direct confirmation that Dunbar will step aside, but the Statesman has it that, in an email, she said a statement would be released later.  They also hear from other SBOE member David Bradley that she will not be returning.

Update by Matt: This statement just came in from Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller:

"If this report is accurate, then it appears that Cynthia Dunbar realized her extremist track record made her a damaged brand in next year's election. But the only difference between her and Russell is she wrote a book savaging public education and he hasn't done that yet. Nobody should be fooled here. He holds the same anti-science and extremist views that Dunbar does, which is why she recruited him to run for her seat."

In her 2008 book, One Nation Under God, Dunbar called public education a "subtle tool of perversion," "tyrannical" and unconstitutional. During the 2008 president election, Dunbar attacked then-candidate Barack Obama as a Marxist and a terrorist sympathizer who wanted another attack on America so that he could declare martial law and throw out the Constitution. Dunbar has also been a leader of efforts by the State Board of Education's far-right faction to politicize our children's social studies classrooms and to promote creationist arguments against evolution in science classrooms.

In March of this year Russell successfully persuaded the State Republican Executive Committee to pass a resolution demanding that all Republican state board members obey the Texas GOP platform by supporting creationist arguments against evolution in new public school science curriculum standards. He also has served as treasurer of Legacy PAC, a Christian-right political action committee. In 2004 he served on a committee that drafted the Texas Republican Party platform, which called separation of church and state a "myth," demanded that public schools teach "intelligent design"/creationism in science classrooms and opposed including medically accurate information on contraception and disease prevention in sex education classes.

Education First SBOE 10 Launches New Website

by: mktiv

Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 02:18 PM CST

The website EducationFirstSBOE10.org is geared to advancing the groups goals of raising voter awareness and interest in the State Board of Education, in particular the SBOE district 10 election of 2010.

Visit EducationFirstSBOE10.org for more!

UPDATED: SBOE 3: Is Michael Soto Our Savior in the State Board of Education?

by: Michael Hurta

Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 09:36 AM CST

-------

Three political methods exist to stop the State Board of Education from crippling our schools with an extremist agenda.

1. Run a Democrat against a socially conservative Republican and win.
2. Support moderate Republicans against the God-Fearing Conservative Republicans, and make sure they win.
3. Purge any Democrats who vote with the Socially Conservative Bloc.

The first two options will prove quite difficult.  Locally, lots of Democrats are lining up to take on the ultra-crazy Cynthia Dunbar, and they all should be applauded for that, but a 15-seat body to represent everyone in Texas doesn't exactly have "swing districts."  Beating Cynthia Dunbar in a general election, unfortunately, will require a lot of money, a lot of volunteers, and/or a lot of luck.  It's possible.  I'll keep my fingers crossed, but eventual failure in these efforts will not surprise me.

The second option is highlighted in this excellent article from the Texas Tribune.  Most notably, Thomas Ratliff, son of former Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff, is running against former chair Don McLeroy.  I remain skeptical about putting too much stock here, too.  We just saw Republicans abandon their own candidate in NY-23 because she was too moderate, and almost every sign in Texas shows that Rick Perry and his extra-conservative gang lead the state GOP.  Success here will be easier than in the general election, so we should consider helping folks like Bill Ratliff if we can.  But still, failure in these endeavors won't phase me a bit.

That same Texas Tribune article reminded me of the third option:

Though the board had (and still has) ten Republican and five Democrats, seven socially conservative Republicans had formed a reliable voting bloc that, with the swing vote of Democratic member Rick Agosto, gave them the power to push forward a socially conservative agenda.

A Democrat should never vote with a far-right block anywhere, especially when his or her single vote is so important -- Not to mention on a regular basis, as Mr. Agosto does!

On a board where the Republicans have stocked many of their farthest right members, I'm not suggesting all Democrats be far-left, but they shouldn't consider associating with those in the farthest right, either.  Worse yet with Agosto, he is involved in some SBOE ethics problems, which could jeopardize his chances in a general election while opening up the opportunity for an even more conservative board member.  Some speculation even suggests that his ethics troubles and his periodic support of the Right Evangelistic positions are interrelated!  

Can this guy get any worse?  

We probably shouldn't wait to find out.

Thankfully, his seat is on the 2010 ballot.  People have been calling for challengers for a while, and the San Antonio Express-News even joined the fray in a mid-October editorial, saying, "surely there are more qualified candidates in this 11-county SBOE District 3 region than we saw in 2006."  After reading the editorial, I combed through the interwebs to see if anyone in this district has expressed remote interest in challenging the most Republican Democrat on the State Board of Education.  

One name came up: Dr. Michael Soto, an English professor at Trinity University.  Looking at his website, he looks like a potential asset for the board.  Wonderful.  Now, can he win?

He ran for the San Antonio ISD school board in May, and he garnered almost 44% of the vote.  Impressively, however, he managed this against former mayor Ed Garza.  In that race he managed to gain the support of local San Antonio businessmen, but the race isn't just in San Antonio.  SBOE 3 runs from Bexar County all the way down to Hidalgo County in the Valley.  And Agosto rings a bit more Hispanic than Soto.  He has a website already, but it's lacking in many respects compared to Rick Agosto's.  

He could use some help.  And right now, no one else is stepping up.  So if you live in the district, either offer Mr. Soto a hand or find another challenger.  We need someone here.

If he's the only other option, he could be our savior on the State Board of Education.  Right now, nobody has a better chance to rid the board of a bunch of bad votes.

Texas Education Roundup

by: Michael Hurta

Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 00:10 PM CDT

• Last week, a GAO Report (.pdf) noted that the Department of Education has listed Texas as a "high risk" state.  We have been marked for "Intensive Technical Assistance" and will be monitored on-site during the 2010 fiscal year.
• The State Board of Education not only has problems with managing what we teach our children, but there is also controversy about the Board's money management.  Unfortunately, a Democrat is involved this time.
  

  In July, the board fired its general investment consultant, R.V. Kuhns & Associates. Responsible for shaping the fund's investment strategy and contracting decisions, Kuhns was replaced with a rival, Massachusetts-based NEPC.

  The action was taken directly contrary to the recommendation of the school fund's state staff. Not only did NEPC rank lower than Kuhns in the Texas Education Agency's evaluation, it also cost more - $1.05 million compared with Kuhns' bid of $398,000 for the same work. (In its final proposal, NEPC lowered its fee to $580,000, though it remained the high bidder.)

  The decision to hire NEPC raised concern among state officials because it was championed by board member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio. As a marketer for institutional investment firms in his private career, Agosto had prior business contacts with NEPC.

• Last week the 15-year Texas Student Media Director, Kathy Lawrence, retired while siting health reasons.  Assistant VP for Student Affairs Jennifer Hammat was appointed as the interim replacement.  Texas Student Media advises many media organizations run primary by students, including The Daily Texan and KVRX 91.7 FM.
• Now that funding for the bad policy runs dry, Texas schools begin turing a cold shoulder to the failed "abstinence-only" classes.  This must explain it:
  

  More government money has been spent on the cause of sexual abstinence in Texas than any other state, but it still has the third-highest teen birth rate in the country and the highest percentage of teen mothers giving birth more than once.

• Texas Tech Universitiy's enrollment has jumped over 1,500 from last year, to an all-time high of 30,049.

SBOE Social Studies Battle: Teaching Republican Party Ideology?

by: Michael Hurta

Sat Aug 22, 2009 at 10:38 AM CDT

Oh, except for possibly teaching Republican Party ideology.

Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority - but nothing about liberals - under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks.

[...]

The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction says students should be expected "to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority."

Gingrich helped lead House Republicans to their 1994 takeover of Congress and became House speaker. Schlafly founded the conservative Eagle Forum and became a leading opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment aimed at formalizing women's equality with men. The Moral Majority formed in the late 1970s as an evangelical Christian organization that influenced politics and public policy for decades.

I'll be honest, I had never heard of Phyllis Schlafly before this article.  And although Newt Gingrich is probably an important figure in American history that deserves examination, his inclusion stems only from a decision that reeks of political party bais.

Thankfully, not every Republican on the board is in line with teaching about the conservative movement from a partisan slant.  Terri Leo (R-Spring) commented, "It is hard to believe that a majority of the writing team would approve of such wording.  It's not even a representative selection of the conservative movement, and it is inappropriate."

As Leo alluded to, teaching the conservative movement is one thing, and teaching conservatism is quite another.  The recommended curriculum proposes the latter.

There are other Republicans on the board, like Ken Mercer, who think they can teach conservatism by adding liberal activists to the "names to recognize" list.  They think this will placate Democrats.  Mercer even suggests trying to appease the group he is most afraid of, but it won't work:

Among liberals to include, Mercer would nominate the National Education Association, MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood and the Texas Freedom Network - a group that says it promotes "religious freedom and individual liberties to counter the radical right."

"We don't think it's appropriate to be listing groups and people in the standards just because they're conservatives or liberals," said Kathy Miller, the group's president. "The state board should simply stop putting politics ahead of our kids' education and putting teachers in the position of indoctrinating students with political agendas."

The road to an updated Social Studies Curriculum is a long one, and this is likely just one bump that we will encounter.  To obtain school syllabi that teach accurate history, we need to continue keeping an eye out.  Subtle additions like this one are to be expected.

Another SBOE 5 Candidate

by: Michael Hurta

Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 02:24 PM CDT

In the comments, as well as in emails we have received, we learned that a guy named Daniel Boone was also running.  Yes, it's no coincidence that he has the same name as that Daniel Boone.  Apparently, he's related.

Daniel also ran for House District 73 in the 2008 cycle, getting about 26 percent of the vote against Republican Doug Miller.  It was not his first run for this seat: he was a write-in candidate in 2006 when he received 2,690 votes (5.64%) when there was not a Democratic Party candidate.  Boone was a career Air Force officer, rising to Lt. Colonel.  Also, with a PhD in Experimental and Clinical Psychology, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at several universities, including the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Although some might consider him an also-ran and find more excitement in Bell-Meterau, it is exciting in general to know that multiple people are taking a jab at this seat, just like SBOE 10.