Adoption States

As of 6:55 AM Central Time Wednesday 3 March...

Most of the action is in the Republican primaries:

Former Board Chairman Don "The Dentist" McLeroy is in a squeaker with his primary challenger, Tom Ratliff--at this point, Ratliff is holding a slender 700-vote lead in unofficial returns. If McLeroy goes down, it will be a huge blow to The Faction--they will need even more swing votes (which will be harder to find) to get their agenda passed.

Once the Texas Board of Education voted on science standards in the spring, most folks figured the evolution front would be quiet for a little while. But the federal court system finds itself chewing on TWO different cases about evolution and creationism in science education. Either case's success would represent a watershed event in the ongoing Evolution wars...

In an earlier post, I mentioned that HB 4294 would, for the first time EVER, allow Texas state textbook funds to be used to purchase technology and equipment. At that point, I said that if it got signed, it would change the industry forever.

Earlier in this blog, I described how just a couple of bills in Texas (Open-Source Textbooks and Technology) could change the face of the instructional materials industry.

…now that the Texas Legislature has adjourned for two years (or the Governor calls a “special session”). Every two years, they're in session for just 140 days to do all the law-making and budgeting the State of Texas needs. But before they left, the Senate tweaked a number of bills that have irrevocably broken the formerly sacred trust that The Textbook Fund would always and only be spent on textbooks (i.e. printed student editions). Presuming the Governor signs them, there’s no going back now…

This afternoon, the Texas Senate finally held its debate on McLeroy's nomination to chair the Texas Board of Education. Because a 2/3 majority is required, he lost on a 19-11 party line vote, amid much discussion about whether he was being punished for his faith or for being a divisive leader. Speculation about who the governor will appoint next to chair the board is rampant at the Texas Education Agency and the state Capitol...

Today's meeting of the Board of Education whipped along pretty smoothly and quietly, but don't let the calm deceive you: at least four significant issues came up that will impact everyone (publishers, etc.) bringing content before the Board...

Today, the Texas State Board of Education meets to cover a host of issues, none of which are as controverisal as the recent science standards battles. (The room is 4/5 empty instead of standing-room only.) While nobody mentioned anything about Chairman Don's resurrected nomination, the Board started by examining the Legislative picture. To put it mildly, they're hopping mad...

They say that late in a Texas Legislative session, odd things happen--pigs can fly, elephants can disappear, etc. Three hours ago, a similarly unlikely event occurred: at a hastily-convened committee meeting at Senator Mike Jackson's desk, Board of Ed Chairman Don McElroy's stalled nomination suddenly came back to life, sent to the Senate floor by a 4-2 party line vote. What is going on here?...

If it's May in Austin during an odd-numbered-year, you can bet that there's a whirlwind of bills and amendments hovering around the Texas Capitol as invisible but pesky as a cloud of allergy-inducing live-oak pollen. All of Texas' law-making and appropriations business needs to conclude before June 1st adjournment, for the Legislature will not return to session until January 2011 (barring unforeseen special sessions). More than two dozen bills affecting instructional materials and/or the hapless State Board of Education have been filed.