Texas Freedom Network

The Texas Senate today failed to confirm Don McLeroy as chairman of the State Board of Education. The 19-11 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for confirmation. Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller is releasing the following statement:

“Watching the state board the last two years has been like watching one train wreck after another. We had hoped that the Legislature would take more action to put this train back on the tracks, but clearly new leadership on the board was a needed first step. The governor should know that parents will be watching closely to see whether he chooses a new chairman who puts the education of their children ahead of personal and political agendas.”

Rumors about whom Gov. Rick Perry will choose to replace McLeroy as board chairman have been abundant. The state Constitution appears to direct the governor to act immediately to choose a new chairman, but the next board meeting isn’t until July.

Regardless of the governor’s selection for the next chair of the board, our work is not done. With your support, TFN will continue leading the charge for sound education standards, ideology-free textbooks and the best interests of Texas school children.

Help us celebrate today’s victory with a gift to support our ongoing work at the State Board of Education and Legislature.

Confirmation of Don McLeroy as Texas State Board of Education chairman is indeed on the list of pending nominations for the Senate today. When today’s nominations come to the floor, expect a motion to sever — or remove — McLeroy from the list of other nominees. That will allow the Senate to consider his confirmation separately. You can watch the Senate live on the Internet here. TFN Insider will also be providing updates (and live-blogging, if possible).

You still have time to ask your senator to oppose McLeroy’s confirmation. Click here to find the name and contact information for your senator.

We just got word that Senate Nominations Committee Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, has given a 24-hour notice on the confirmation of Don McLeroy as Texas State Board of Education chairman. That means we could finally see the long-awaited debate and vote on McLeroy’s controversial appointment Thursday afternoon.

So we decided to offer another example of McLeroy’s contempt for experts and educators. You will recall that McLeroy voted in 2008 to throw out nearly three years of work by teachers and curriculum specialists on new language arts standards. Teachers were appalled, but the esteemed dentist had his own ideas about how to teach students to read and write.

The House Public Education Committee then called a hearing to discuss what in the world was going on with the state board. McLeroy testified at the July 2008 hearing and offered a variety of explanations, including this rather odd one:

A lot of the teachers during public testimony that we had during the public hearings was overwhelming for the workgroup document. I mean, 99 percent of the time, I think. . . . We got a lot of input from teachers. The ones that were the most vocal, by far, I would say ninety, like I say, 99 percent were, uh, I was opposed to.
(July 16, 2008, approx. 35:30 mark)

And so he voted against all those teachers. Not only that, he backed a document that was patched together overnight by his board cronies and slipped under hotel doors just an hour before the final vote. And what of the teachers who actually work in the classroom? Who cares, right?

This is yet another of the many examples of why McLeroy’s tenure as chairman has been a disaster for public education in Texas. And it’s another example of why the Texas Senate should reject his confirmation as chairman.

Please ask your senator to vote against McLeroy’s confirmation. Click here to find the name and contact information for your senator.

Embattled State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy has finally found a defender in the Texas Senate. Sort of.  In a story on KUT radio this morning, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, gave something less than a full-throated endorsement of McLeroy’s competence as board chairman:

You’re talking about a chairman and a chairman’s ability to manage a meeting. I have had absolutely no indication that he hasn’t done a good job.

Well, first of all, the state’s English teachers might take issue with the claim that McLeroy presides over fair and even-handed meetings. (Is Sen. Nelson really prepared to defend McLeroy’s decision to cast aside two years of work by teachers on English-Language Arts standards and slide a never-before-seen draft under the hotel doors of his fellow board members hours before the final vote? — hat tip: Tony’s Curricublog.)

But the accuracy of this claim aside, is this really the best argument McLeroy’s defenders can muster — that  he can manage a meeting? What a spectacularly low standard for a position that wields significant influence over the curriculum for 4.6 million schoolchildren (not to mention a multi-billion dollar Permanent School Fund).

If that’s all you’ve got, Sen. Nelson, we respectfully suggest that the state of Texas can do better by its children.

Word is that Don McLeroy‘s name is on the list of nominees distributed to state senators in Austin today. That means his confirmation as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education could come up for debate and a vote as early as this afternoon, although it’s more likely tomorrow.

We know that far-right groups have been bombarding Capitol offices with phone calls and e-mails in support of McLeroy’s confirmation. Make sure senators know that mainstream Texans are fed up with seeing our public schools dragged into the nation’s divisive culture wars. If you haven’t done so already, please ask your senator to oppose McLeroy’s confirmation. Tell your senator that this vote is a referendum on whether the Senate wants a state board chairman who promotes his own personal and political agendas ahead of the interests of Texas schoolchildren and their families. You can find your senator’s name and contact information here. Then please let us know what you hear from your senator’s office by e-mailing tfn@tfn.org.