State Board of Education
Politics & Policy
October 21, 2014
SBOE, Publishers Talk Textbook Controversy
The years-long textbook saga of Texas continues. …
Politics & Policy
February 11, 2014
Evolution of the Specious
The arguments against teaching evolution in schools have largely failed. Have they finally come to an end?…
Politics & Policy
September 18, 2013
Who’s Who Among the State Board Of Education Hearing
Like any political battle in Texas, the ongoing fight over the evolution in the state's science classes features colorful characters worth getting to know.
Politics & Policy
April 3, 2013
CSCOPE Under the Microscope
The Senate Education Committee heard four hours of testimony Tuesday on a bill by Senator Dan Patrick that would require the State Board of Education to sign off on all lesson plans included in the online curriculum management tool CSCOPE.
Arts & Entertainment
January 21, 2013
Don McLeroy Appears on ‘The Colbert Report’
The former Texas Board of Education chair talks creationism, textbooks, and whether man and dinosaurs lived contemporaneously on The Colbert Report. …
January 21, 2013
‘The Revisionaries’ Explores the SBOE
The Revisionaries, a new documentary about the State Board of Education, received rave reviews after its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Feature
January 20, 2013
Head of The Class
The question isn’t how the followers of an obscure Turkish imam came to operate the largest charter school system in Texas. It’s whether the incredible success they’ve had can help our ailing public schools.
Business
April 20, 2012
Texas Business Report: Math Standards Divide State
The Texas Association of Business criticizes the State Board of Education's math curriculum and working in Texas pays off for women.
February 3, 2012
Texas’s Controversial Science Standards Are “Mediocre to Awful”
A recent report gives the state's science standards a ‘C,’ but the State Board of Education chairwoman, a science teacher, is still “pleased.”…
Politics & Policy
May 23, 2010
Where’s Waldo?
I mean, where’s Bill White? The State Board of Education is in a meltdown that is getting worldwide publicity, and the best he can do is say that if he is elected governor, he would name a new chair. Big deal. He ought to be saying: This is Rick Perry’s…
Politics & Policy
May 21, 2010
Jefferson wins! He’s back in the textbooks
This "tick-tock" report comes from my colleague Katy Vine, who has been following and writing about the State Board of Education for Texas Monthly. 12:31 – Here we go. Bob Craig makes a motion to add “impact of Enlightenment ideas” back into a standard altered in March to remove references…
Politics & Policy
May 18, 2010
SBOE may delay science textbooks
The State Board of Education may decide today to push back the arrival of new science textbooks to 2013. No, it’s not because the publishers dared to mention evolution. It’s because of the budget crunch. By delaying the arrival of books, the Legislature can pay part of the money in…
Politics & Policy
May 17, 2010
D’s protest omission of Obama’s name from social studies textbooks
This letter from Houston State Rep. Alma Allen went out today to local Democratic party leaders in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. Allen is angry because the Republicans who control the State Board of Education (for now) do not have a standard of essential knowledge that requires students to…
Politics & Policy
May 17, 2010
McLeroy wants social studies students to “evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U.S. sovereignty”
Not one to give up just because he has been booted from office by the voters, former State Board of Education chair Don McLeroy has proposed new additions to the social studies curriculum, which is up for adoption by the full board later this month. First I'm going to summarize…
Politics & Policy
May 6, 2010
Advice for the State Board of Education
You might want to think twice about including a vindication of Joe McCarthy's anticommunist activities, based on the revelations of the Venona papers, in the proposed social studies curriculum standards, for two reasons: (1) It was stupid. (2) It was wrong. The current issue of The Weekly Standard, a conservative…
Politics & Policy
April 30, 2010
The State Board of Ed’s Final Exam
Our quiz shouldn’t be hard, so long as you’ve been paying attention. You have been paying attention, right?…
Politics & Policy
April 23, 2010
HISD debates SBOE’s social studies changes; Democratic SBOE member Lawrence Allen defends board’s changes
Thanks to my colleague Katy Vine, who follows the drama of the State Board of Education, for calling this blog post in the Houston Press to my attention. Here's the post in full: The Houston ISD employees who were asked to draft a resolution asking the State Board…
Politics & Policy
April 12, 2010
Farney assails Russell in key SBOE race
Today I received a robo-call from former state senator and lieutenant governor Bill Ratliff urging Republicans to support Marsha Farney in her race for State Board of Education against Brian Russell. Ratliff’s brief message made the point that Farney had showed her commitment to public education by sending her children…
Politics & Policy
March 1, 2010
Center of Gravity
Who can challenge Republicans on the State Board of Education? A different kind of Republican.
Politics & Policy
April 23, 2009
McLeroy nomination stalled
After State Board of Education chairman Don McLeroy gave a shaky performance before the Senate Nominations committee Wednesday, there appears to be little interest in the Texas Senate in moving forward on his confirmation. Nominations chair Mike Jackson has said he won’t ask for a committee vote if there aren’t…
Politics & Policy
April 14, 2009
Seliger bill would clip SBOE’s wings
The fallout from the State Board of Education's debate over the teaching of evolution continued this morning in the Senate Education Committee, which held a spirited discussion on Sen. Kel Seliger's SB 2275 transferring authority for textbook adoption from the State Board of Education to the state's Education Commissioner. How spirited?…
Politics & Policy
March 3, 2009
Van Cliburn, Hobby give virtuoso performances
The lucky folks who attended the Texas History Museum Foundation’s annual Texas Independence Day dinner last night witnessed virtuoso performances by Fort Worth piano legend Van Cliburn and former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, both honored as “History-Making Texans” at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Cliburn managed to weave…
Feature
December 1, 1998
The Disloyal Opposition
How five right-wing members of the State Board of Education are making life miserable for their fellow Republicans—especially George W. Bush.