Adoption States

Sure, FOX News will tell you this was a brilliant triumph for The Faction. The other news outlets will all agree. But I maintain there's a number of missing (and larger) stories here, that should provide a glimmer of hope to those who feel grumpy about last week...

Final adoption of high school social studies, as amended is proposed. Mary Helen Berlanga objects to the whole process of 300+ amendments and such piece-mealing. "In my 27 years on this board, I've never seen anything like this." A lengthy speech follows on the failure to come to terms with the past of discrimination by everyone from the Klan to the Texas Rangers, none of which are mentioned in the history books.

2:10 pm
World Geography amendments from Pat Hardy:
11b) "identify the factors affecting the location of different types of economic activiites, including subsistence and commercial agriculture, manufacturing and service industries," passes without objection
16a) return to original wording, no objections
16b) no objection to going to revising definition of culture
21b) "analyze and evaluate the validity and utility of multiple sources of geographic information, such as primary and secondary sources, aerial photographs, and maps..." no objection
strike 21c); no objection

After David Bradley (R-The Faction, Beaumont), carefully counts noses to be sure there's a quorum, Chair Lowe gavels a start at 1:15. No update on lawsuit over denial of charter school application, so there's no executive session. First up: Graduation requirement for PE: should it be satisfied by certain Career and Technology Education classes (firefighter academy, etc.) for the next year as a grandfather-clause issue. Vote on Friday, but doesn't seem to be any opposition.

It's an election year, and the Faction of ultra-conservatives on the Texas Board of Education could be poised to tumble from a near-majority-with-several-likely-swing-votes to a small minority. While the New York Times and others have picked up this story, a quieter but far more epic change is already shifting the ground beneath the educational publishing industry and the Texas adoption game.

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…