Board of Education

9:15 am Hurst-Euless-Bedford's Trinity High School Show Choir led off with a performance a la the TV show "Glee" of "The Lullaby of Broadway" and other tunes. Too bad they can't inspire the Board to work together as in "The Music Man," in which barbershop singing inspires a fractious local school board to work together...

David Bradley (R-The Faction, Beaumont) moves to postpone issuance of Proclamation 2012 (Science Adoption). This would be moving it off until the next meeting, as has been done since July of 2009.

Bob Craig (R-Lubbock) opposes this, because it amounts to taking no action. Wants Agency to investigate costs for supplemental products.

Bradley withdraws motion, and suggests another motion: Postpone Proclamation 2012 (Science Adoption) INDEFINITELY. Plans subsequent motion to ask Agency and Board to develop request for supplemental materials instead.

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.

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.

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.