Board of Education

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.

Last night, when McElroy's nomination didn't make it out of the TX Senate nominations committee, it pretty much sealed his tenure as Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE). Without confirmation by the full Senate, he automatically is removed as chair (but not as a member) when the Lege adjourns on June 1st. But what happens next...?

If you've got 2 and a half hours to spare, and you want to hear for yourself (rather than the summaries provided in my previous posts) you can download the RealPlayer file.
McElroy's part begins at about 1:20:00, and the skewering by Senators Shapleigh and Watson beings in earnest at about 1:56:15. It goes on for a couple of hours more after that...

After the lengthy questioning, it was time to take testimony from those who'd registered to speak. In some ways, what followed was a microcosm of past Board meetings: six witnesses, including perennial testifiers Texas Freedom Network's Kathy Miller and SMU's Ronald Wetherington decrying the Board's refusal to heed scientific experts and Chairman Don's role in particular; and Board Member Ken Mercer and Free Market Foundation's Jonathan Saenz speaking long and hard to defend the Chairman.