After a series of bombastic speeches, the State Board of Education just approved the social studies curriculum on a party line vote of 9-5, with Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, absent.
Austin
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Jefferson and the SBOE’s Enlightenment
At long last, Thomas Jefferson returns to the State Board of Education’s world history standards, where he had been excised to great controversy earlier.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Praying for Church and State [Updated]
In a morning prayer to open the State Board of Education meeting, social conservative member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, mixed worship with a constitutional argument against the separation of church and state — previewing the politically charged debate to come later today, as conservatives tackle their last big agenda item before approving the state social studies standards.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: Workers’ Comp Chief Blasts Whistleblowers
As the Division of Workers’ Compensation heads into a public hearing at the Sunset Advisory Commission next week, Commissioner Rod Bordelon is blasting his former employees for their allegations reported by the Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Public Education
The Brief: May 21, 2010
The SBOE’s last day, Dallas could turn all “wet,” El Paso ranked one of the safest cities in the U.S. and the truth behind the BP oil spill.
Posted in
Public Education
Hussein in the Membrane
A member of the State Board of Education’s internationally notorious conservative wing trotted out Barack Obama’s middle name late in a marathon meeting Thursday, a fitting end to a debate over social studies curriculum standards that was marked by irritable outbursts and inane dialogue. Members fought over slavery, Jefferson Davis, Joseph McCarthy — even over when they could finally adjourn.
Posted inState Government
Obama for … Texas?!?
Which part of “this is a red state” doesn’t Luke Hayes understand? Undaunted and optimistic, the 26-year-old state director of Organizing for America, the forward operating base for the president’s re-election bid, sees blue in our future — perhaps as soon as 2012.
Posted in
Public Education
Separation Anxiety
At a public hearing today, the State Board of Education’s social conservative bloc is expected to launch attacks on the church-state “wall” as part of hundreds of changes to the social studies curriculum standards, which could provide the outline for tests and textbooks years into the future. The board expects to take a final vote on the entire curriculum on Friday.
Posted in
Public Education
HuTube: Inside the SBOE Hearing
The show outside this week’s State Board of Education meeting is almost as interesting as the show inside.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: History Paige
Former U.S. Secretary of Education and Houston Superintendent Rod Paige this morning asked the State Board of Education to delay adopting its standards, saying they had “swung too far” to the ideological right and diminished the importance of civil rights and slavery. Asked if the board should delay a final vote expected Friday, he said, “Absolutely.”