We have spent the last couple of weeks combing through our files on Cathie Adams. Ms. Adams headed the far-right Texas Eagle Forum for 16 years until her appointment as Texas Republican Party chair in October. She has had plenty to say over the years, much of it ranging from bizarre and kooky to vicious and truly offensive. We have already reported on some of that here and here. But we thought you’d like to see more pearls of wisdom from Ms. Adams — after all, she now heads the political party that controls every statewide elected office in Texas.

We’ll continue this series over the next week or so, but let’s start with Ms. Adams’ loathing for the United Nations and her warnings about “one world” government. Adams’ rhetoric has made her sound much like the wild-eyed fanatics who spent the 1990s shouting about the UN’s “black helicopters” and “jack-booted thugs” terrorizing Americans and destroying freedom. She mixes that strain of extremist paranoia with a hefty dose of “end times” theology as well.

“As American sovereignty fades into the sunset, world government is on the horizon. . . . Do you want your children to begin the 21st century reciting a pledge like this? “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Nations, and to the One-World Government for which it stands; all nations equal, worshipping the earth, indivisible, with disarmament and economic redistribution for all.”

– “World Government vs. American Sovereignty,” Torch (Texas Eagle Forum’s monthly newsletter), November 1999

“The Bible tells us that in the end times there will be a world government headed by a world leader, called the anti-Christ, who will profess a world religion, but did you ever think you would live in the day when these things would come into being? That is exactly what the United Nations is doing behind the backs of most Americans.”

– Letter to Texas Eagle Forum activists, August 2000

“(T)hey have a plan to incrementally implement global government with the UN as the central manager of every life and all property in every nation enforced by a standing UN army.”

– “The Millennium Summit and It’s [sic] DECLARATION,” Torch, November 2000, talking about a UN meeting

“In the future, the anti-Christ will use the pleas for human rights, economic equity and a promise to ‘end all wars’ to found global government. . . . God is not the author of global government, the anti-Christ is, and the UN conspicuously manifests his warmongering spirit.”

– “Global ‘Climate Stock Exchange’ Would Redistribute Wealth,” Torch, January 1999

“The UN is a bellwether sign of the times. Since the Bible warns us to be ready and global events provide evidence that the Rapture of the Church is imminent, let us preach Jesus who was born, died and was buried then rose again, conquering death!”

– Letter to TEF activists, September 1998, in which Adams explains that the founding of the UN was the first in a series of events heralding the coming biblical apocalypse

From today’s TFN News Clips:

“Am I a religious fanatic? Absolutely. You’d have to be to do what I do.”

– State Board of Education member Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, talking about how he approaches public education.

Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news on issues involving the religious right, religious freedom, civil liberties and public education. Subscribe here.

Big news yesterday regarding the Texas State Board of Education: Rick Agosto, the Democratic member from San Antonio who has often voted with the board’s far-right faction on controversial issues, said he will not seek re-election to his seat next year.

This news came as Democrat Michael Soto, a literature professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, announced that he will run for the seat. The district is strongly Democratic, and Mr. Soto had already begun lining up support from other elected officials, such as state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte and former board member Joe Bernal, both San Antonio Democrats. Burnt Orange Report has more about Mr. Soto here.

Without Mr. Agosto, the board’s far-right faction would have a harder time getting a majority of votes on controversial issues in coming years, such as the adoption of new textbooks in science (scheduled for 2011, although budget issues could change that) and social studies (2012). On the other hand, seven other board seats are up for election in 2010. The results of those races could also alter the board’s balance of power.

Currently, three far-right members — Don McLeroy, R-College Station; Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond; and Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio — have drawn election opponents. Other board members whose seats are up for election next year are Rene Nuñez, D-El Paso; Lawrence Allen, D-Houston; Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, R-Dallas; and Bob Craig, R-Lubbock.

From today’s TFN News Clips:

“The culture war over science education, the teaching of evolution, is going to be there, no matter what. Education is too important not to politicize.”

– State Board of Education member Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, finally being honest about turning public schools into political battlegrounds

Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news on issues involving the religious right, religious freedom, civil liberties and public education. Subscribe here.

One thing you can say about Texas State Board of Education member Terri Leo: she can say the most absurd things with a straight face. In an article published by a conservative Web site, East Texas Review, Leo claims “conservatives” (as she defines them, anyway) are improving education standards that will help students do better on standardized tests. She notes, in particular, the board’s approval of new curriculum standards for English/language arts and reading in 2008:

“That’s why we have conservatives on the State Board of Education. . . . The conservatives took issue with our standards, and that’s why they changed.”

Oh please. Who does she think she’s fooling?

OK, bad question — she almost certainly thinks she’s fooling voters. But here’s what happened with the language arts standards:

Leo and her far-right allies on the board tossed aside nearly three years of work by Texas teachers and curriculum specialists to develop new language arts standards. They voted instead for a standards document cobbled together overnight by a couple of far-right board members and then slipped under hotel room doors of other members an hour before the final board meeting and vote.

Teachers were appalled, and so were board members — including conservative Republicans who often clash with the board’s far-right faction. Teachers have noted that the new standards are confusing, poorly constructed and weaken effective reading comprehension strategies. (Most news stories about the vote are no longer available online, but Tony Whitson’s blog still has a good recap of those articles here.)

Leo and the board’s other right-wingers have also pushed to attack evolution with nonscientific, creationist arguments in science classrooms. And they are currently calling for new social studies standards that distort history on topics such as the nation’s founding and the civil rights era. They even want students to learn that Joseph McCarthy was an American “hero” instead of a political smear artist in the 1950s.

Terri Leo can spew all the nonsense she wants about supposedly helping students meet higher standards for success, but the truth is clear: she is helping undermine the eduation of Texas schoolchildren by promoting ideological agendas over sound scholarship and the advice of teachers and experts who actually know what they’re talking about.

Passing along some information about a very interesting forum on the State Board of Education coming up in Austin this Saturday, November 7:

Panel on “Textbooks, TAKS, and the State Board of Education”

Speakers include Mark Grayson, former textbook representative to the SBOE
for Science for Holt, Rinehart and Winston, State Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin),
and Dr. Harrison Keller, Vice Provost for Education Policy and Research at
the University of Texas at Austin.

Saturday, November 7, 11:45am-1:15pm

Yarborough Branch Library
2200 Hancock Drive, Austin, TX  78756

The event is free and open to the public. If you care about these issues, check it out.

A major education group will present the Texas Freedom Network with its 2009 National Intellectual Freedom Award this month for our efforts to help teachers counter political attacks on sound curriculum standards in Texas public schools.

We are very grateful and profoundly humbled by this honor from the 50,000-member National Council of Teachers of English. TFN President Kathy Miller will accept the award at the NCTE’s national conference in Philadelphia on Nov. 19.

But we also think it’s important to highlight the hard work of dedicated teachers who have been promoting sound curriculum standards in language arts as well as science, social studies and other Texas classrooms. They truly have been in the trenches with us in this long fight to ensure that Texas schoolchildren get an education based on sound scholarship, not political and ideological agendas.

You can read more about the NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award here. Please see NCTE’s press release after the jump.

NCTE/SLATE Announces 2009 National Intellectual Freedom Award

Nov. 3, 2009

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has awarded the 2009 NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award to the Texas Freedom Network in Austin, Texas, for supporting the state’s educators and working to be sure their voices are heard.

When the Texas State Board of Education in 2008 presented and ultimately adopted a new English language arts curriculum, the Texas Freedom Network supported the Coalition of Reading and English Supervisors of Texas in getting its position out to a wider audience through the media. Throughout the adoption process the Texas Freedom Network honored the expertise of English language arts educators while crafting and delivering the messages, and since the final vote on the curriculum, the organization has continued to support the work of the teachers and to fight for intellectual freedom in Texas schools by educating reporters and the public.

Founded in 1995, the Texas Freedom Network is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of more than 30,000 religious and community leaders. The Texas Freedom Network works with educators, classroom teachers, and experts from colleges and universities across Texas to ensure that curriculum and textbooks approved by the state’s Board of Education reflect the very best scholarship in every subject area.

The NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award will be presented to Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, at the Thursday General Session on November 19 during the 2009 NCTE Annual Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Established in 1997, the NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award is given by a joint subcommittee of the SLATE (Support for the Learning and Teaching of English) Steering Committee and the NCTE Standing Committee Against Censorship to individuals, groups, or institutions that merit recognition for advancing the cause of intellectual freedom. The winners of this award have shown courage in advancing the cause of intellectual freedom or fighting censorship; and the winners’ activity is related to particular recent events (e.g., as in a censorship dispute) or is ongoing (e.g., as in leadership demonstrated over a period of years).

Since 1975, SLATE has been an NCTE Standing Committee on social and political concerns. SLATE seeks to influence public attitudes and policy decisions affecting the teaching of English language arts at local, state, and national levels. SLATE makes no policy of its own, but seeks to implement and publicize the polities adopted by NCTE. SLATE serves as NCTE’s intellectual freedom network.

Peggy Adair, Omaha, Nebraska, and Carrie Faust, Aurora, Colorado, won this year’s honorable mention awards.

For more information about the NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award, see http://www.ncte.org/awards/slate.

###

The National Council of Teachers of English (http://www.ncte.org), with 50,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.

It appears that the Texas State Board of Education’s social conservatives and their supporters have embarked on a new campaign of blanket smears against almost everyone involved in the revision of social studies curriculum standards. And the attacks increasingly sound almost like unhinged rants.

This week state board member Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, and Bill Ames, appointed to a curriculum panel by board member Don McLeroy, R-College, are both attacking “leftists” involved in the social studies revision. Their targets include teachers, Texas Education Agency professional staff, the news media and (of course) the Texas Freedom Network.

We already knew about Mercer’s contempt for classroom teachers. Now in a new Q-and-A article on the conservative blog Ramparts360, Mercer says that the battle over what Texas students will learn in their public school social studies classrooms is part of a “nationwide culture war” against “the far left.” And who makes up the “far left”?

Ken refers to what he calls “the Big Five Print Media Mafia” (Austin American Statesman, San Antonio Express News, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star Telegram). Big Five Mafia for short. “The far left attacks constantly without mercy. And within the educational system there seems to be an academic and journalistic assassination of conservative leaders in science and history, even to the point of denying their degrees or professional influence.”

Their accomplice is a group with the Orwellian moniker “Texas Freedom Network” and the Big Five Mafia is constantly quoting the group members as authorities on education. These are the indoctrinators for whom the term “religious freedom” doesn’t mean freedom OF religion as much as it means freedom FROM religion. Big difference.

In a separate Q-and-A article, Ames echoes Mercer’s charges and calls conservative teachers a “minority” in Texas. He repeatedly refers to teachers and others (including “moderate Republicans”) helping revise the standards as leftists and liberals:

“On one side [of the debate over curriculum standards] are those with a leftist mindset, with the goal of creating a negative view of America, revealing a history of oppression and exploitation of minorities, women, and labor. This group is highly organized, consisting of the Texas Council for the Social Studies, the two major teachers unions in Texas, Democrats and some “moderate” Republicans on the SBOE, and even some left-leaning staffers at the Texas Education Agency. They are all ideologically joined at the hip and many contribute money to the Texas Freedom Network, which is their selected mouthpiece to trash their opponents.”

Ames also thinks the debate in Texas is part of a bigger battle against the “severe” threat of leftists in America:

“The ascension of Obama and the overwhelming majority of leftists in government has emboldened the Texas leftist groups beyond any previous levels. The U. S. history review panel of which I was a member displayed an astounding arrogance towards both the SBOE and the conservative values of Texas citizens.”

He even calls on Texans to defund and remove their children from public schools:

“The ultimate parent’s weapon is to reduce public school funding by homeschooling or putting their kids in private school.  Many parents believe this is not affordable and/or too difficult. But they should consider the importance of their children’s education measured against overall family priorities.”

“Big Five Mafia”? “Indoctrinators”?  The “leftist mindset” of teachers? “Left-leaning” TEA staffers? Of course, we’re not terribly surprised by these tired “Red Scare” tactics. After all, some board members also think students should learn that Joseph McCarthy was a truth-telling American hero. But it’s troubling — to say the least — that these extremists have so much influence over the education of Texas schoolchildren.

From today’s TFN News Clips:

“The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama said was a major victory for America. I’m not sure if America was the beneficiary. … We have voted into office a group of people who are opposed to many of the fundamental Christian beliefs of our nation. And they hold to radical ideology, and they are beginning to put people sharing their points of view into high office. And not only that, they … have control of both houses of Congress.”

– Pat Robertson, speaking last week on the Christian Broadcasting Network about recently passed hate crimes legislation

Stay informed with TFN News Clips, a daily digest of news on issues involving the religious right, religious freedom, civil liberties and public education. Subscribe here.

Well, this is an odd twist. David Bradley — a supposed champion of the wisdom of free markets — thinks the Texas State Board of Education will do a better job than the private sector in deciding whether it’s too risky to invest in charter schools. (Of course, some board members also think they know more about science and history than scientists and historians. So are you surprised?)

An article in the Austin American-Statesman today explains that Bradley, a Republican state board member from Beaumont Buna, wants the board to consider investing part of the Permanent School Fund’s $22 billion in facilities for charter schools. The chair of the state board’s Finance Committee and a longtime proponent of charter schools says he “would like to see if this a sector of the market that is mature enough and would offer some opportunity.”

Private investors don’t seem to think so. The Statesman points out that charter schools don’t have what investors typically look for: established financial track records, adequate cash reserves and long-term security.

The Legislature also hasn’t appropriated tax dollars for charter school facilities. Why? Lawmakers know the state’s charter school system has been plagued by fiscal mismanagement, poor academic performance and other problems. Some charter schools do a good job, of course. But according to Texas Education Agency records, one quarter of the 282 charters granted by the state since 1996 have been revoked, allowed to expire or abandoned.

Moreover, charter school proponents promised lawmakers in the 1990s that they would do a better job than traditional public schools with less money if the state exempted them from various regulations (such as limits on class size, minimum teacher qualifications and curriculum requirements). Now they say charter schools are at a disadvantage because they don’t get public funding for facilities. That sounds like a bait-and-switch scheme to a lot of folks.

In any case, suppose Bradley gets his way and the PSF invests in facilities for charter schools. What would happen when a charter school closes down? What would the PSF do with the building it helped to finance or leased to the school? And what would be the effect on the PSF’s balance sheets?

All of that brings up the the state board’s primary responsibility in overseeing the PSF in the first place. According to the Statesman:

Other legal and investment experts say the trustees’ sole obligation is to maximize returns prudently, so any investment in charter schools facilities would have to produce returns comparable to other, similar investments.

“They should not be taking into account collateral considerations, particularly at the expense of investment performance,” said Charles Rounds Jr., an expert on trusts and a law professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. “They really should not use the trust fund in order to indulge their own personal predilections.”

We agree. The board should simply focus on making sure the PSF is invested wisely. Making public policy regarding charter schools is the job of the Legislature.

And given the number of charter schools that have failed, we would prefer that the board do a better job screening applicants that seek charters. In some cases, for example, the board has granted charters to entities with significantly lower ratings than other applicants. Moreover, there are already ethics concerns regarding the board’s management of the PSF. It seems to us that the state board has more than enough on its plate right now.