The future of which textbooks go into Texas classrooms and what students learn about history could be in the hands of voters as candidates vie for state education board positions on Tuesday. .
Seven seats are up for grabs this year, two of which represent North Texas.
Texas will decide which candidates remain or join the board charged with setting curriculum standards and reviewing and adopting instructional materials for public schools.
The board has moved further to the right in recent years, with 10 of the 15 current board members now Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Aaron Kinsey, a Midland Republican and business leader, as chairman late last year.
The Democratic candidate currently represents a majority district in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and San Marcos.
The board recently approved rules for school libraries as the fight over inappropriate books continues. Discussion about a new Native American studies course has been delayed. They adopted and rejected several new science textbooks over how to explain climate change and evolution.
Local candidates are:
District 11 — Fort Worth
In the Republican primary, Patricia “Pat” Hardy, a longtime Republican incumbent and current board secretary, is running against Brandon Hall. Ms. Hardy has served as a director since 2002.
Hardy said top priorities include updating the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for social studies, the state standards for what students should know in various subjects. Hardy is a former social studies teacher.
She said she does not support school aid programs tied to “big government.” That's because most of that money will go to “students whose parents are trying to send them to private schools anyway.”
Some school choice advocates promote voucher-like initiatives such as education savings accounts that funnel public funds to private schools.
“We really want to help improve educational opportunities for the middle class and lower middle class,” Hardy said. “I don't know about that [vouchers are] I really plan on doing that. I have been against vouchers from the beginning. ”
Hall, a pastor, said he wants to eradicate “indoctrination, cathode ray tubes and obscene materials” from Texas classrooms in order to provide “an excellent education” for children. Critical race theory, also known as CRT, is an academic framework that examines how policies and laws support systemic racism. Public school leaders have long argued that critical race theory is not taught in K-12 schools.
“I want to be a solid conservative vote that parents can always count on,” Hall said.
He said he supports initiatives like vouchers. Hall said he believes the state can “fully fund education and at the same time give parents more options.”
Such a policy would “open up the right for parents to make the absolute best choice because they really know what's best for their child,” Hall said.
Board members initially set legislative priorities for 2023 that included opposing initiatives like vouchers. But after more conservative lawmakers took office last year, they removed that language from their priorities.
Reyna Glasser is running as an independent in the Democratic primary for District 11.
District 12 — Fairview
Republican incumbent and board vice chair Pam Little is facing Chad Green, Jamie Coleman and Matt Rostami in the primary. She has been a director since 2018.
If re-elected, Little, a businesswoman, hopes to develop a framework for what students learn in social studies classes. Rethinking math standards to ensure schools grow a pipeline of corporate-savvy employees. Create a rubric for how to review the material. Expand career and technology courses, according to her voter guide responses.
Little said she believes in school choice, but that giving private schools state funding and holding them accountable in the same way as public school districts “turns private schools into a kind of government-run school.” He said there was resistance.
“If you do this, you're giving up your private school option,” she says.
Coleman, a real estate agent, said in her response that she wants to “implement rigorous TEKS” in the state's schools and ensure that the state's schools have “educational materials that align with Texas values.”
She said she supports vouchers “because it's the right thing to do for Texas families.”
When asked about local Republican lawmakers who voted against voucher-style education savings accounts during Congress, she said, “They disrespect human ingenuity.” We aim to develop rural communities in non-traditional and innovative ways,” Coleman said. “I think that’s the beauty of school choice.”
Mr. Green, the consultant, said he would increase the rigor of reading and math, align standards with Texas values, and promote “lessons that promote communist economic principles” and “materials and age groups that support cathode ray tubes in schools and classrooms.” The focus is on removing “inappropriate teaching materials”. According to his response to the voter guide.
Mr. Rostami, an eye surgeon, would create a “pro-American curriculum,” promote financial literacy education and promote traditional family values, according to his responses to the voter guide.
George King is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
The DMN Education Lab deepens our coverage and conversations about pressing education issues that matter to the future of North Texas.
DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative supported by Bobby and Lottie Lyle, Community Foundation of Texas, Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Dee Dee Rhodes, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Meadows Foundation, Murrell Foundation, and Solutions. I am receiving support. Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sidney Smith Hicks, University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control over Education Lab's journalism.
