Category Archives for Texas Legislature

Sen. Patrick Gives Texans an Odd Lesson on Civil Rights

Did you know that students attending private schools in Texas today face discrimination like African-American students did during the era of racial segregation? Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican chairman of the Texas Senate Education Committee, seems to think so. Sen. Patrick was speaking at Tuesday’s Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 573, a measure that […]

Also posted in Dan Patrick, John Hagee, sex education, TFN, Tim Lambert | 12 Comments

A Minister Gets Sermon on Morality from Legislative Staffers

TFN Insider is pleased to present this guest post from Rev. Beth Ellen Cooper of Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church. Rev. Cooper participated in TFN’s clergy gathering earlier this week in support of access to birth control and state funding for family planning. She blogs regularly for the Houston Chronicle at Keep the Faith.  Process Matters […]

Also posted in birth control, Steve Toth, TFNEF, Women's health | 30 Comments

Distortions and Bullying Tactics Take Center Stage at Texas Senate Hearing on Sex Education

Today we saw a big reason why sex education is so awful in Texas, a state with one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation. Polling shows that 84 percent of registered voters in Texas want high school sex education classes to teach about birth control along with the importance of abstinence. But […]

Also posted in Dan Patrick, sex education, TFN | 7 Comments

Texas Clergy Support Broad Access to Birth Control, State Funding for Family Planning

We already told you about our new statewide poll showing that a large majority of registered voters in Texas support broad access to birth control. Today clergy from around the state met at the Texas Capitol to call on lawmakers to ensure that all women, regardless of income, have access to family planning services. We […]

Also posted in birth control, TFN | 2 Comments

Texas Senate Education Committee to Take Up Pro-Vouchers, Anti-Sex Ed Bills on Tuesday

The Texas Freedom Network will be focused Tuesday on two bills being heard by the Senate Education Committee: one that would create an expensive private school voucher program and another that could effectively end sex education in much of the state. Senate Bill 115 by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, would create a voucher […]

Also posted in sex education, TFN, vouchers | 9 Comments

Democratic Senator Agrees to File Tax Credit Voucher Scheme in Texas Lege

TAKE ACTION: Click here — www.tfn.org/novouchers — for more on how you can tell Sen. Lucio NOT to file his tax credit voucher bill. *** State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has been promising that the Senate Education Committee he chairs will consider legislation giving tax credits to businesses that donate money for student “scholarships” to […]

Also posted in TFN, vouchers | 3 Comments

Support for Broad Access to Birth Control Crosses Partisan Lines in Texas

Texas lawmakers are considering various bills affecting women’s access to birth control in the state, including whether to reverse the drastic cuts the Legislature made to family planning services for low-income women in 2011. So we wanted to drill deeper into the numbers from last month’s Texas Freedom Network Education Fund statewide poll. To our […]

Also posted in birth control, TFN | 13 Comments

Texas Senate Confirms Barbara Cargill as SBOE Chair

Today the Texas Senate unanimously confirmed Gov. Rick Perry’s appointment of Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, to a second term as chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE). This is the first time since 2005 that the Senate has confirmed a Perry-appointed SBOE chair. The governor’s previous two appointees, creationists Don McLeroy and Gail Lowe, […]

Also posted in Barbara Cargill, State Board of Education, TFN | 7 Comments

Cargill Grilled Again

This time the Q&A for Barbara Cargill, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) chair, is administered by Texas Monthly. And just like her appearance before the Senate Nominations Committee last week (or before the Senate Education Committee the week before), I don’t think these answers are going to put to rest concern in the science […]

Also posted in Barbara Cargill, creationism, evolution, State Board of Education, TFN | 11 Comments

Austin American-Statesman Editorial Warily Supports Cargill Confirmation

An Austin American-Statesman editorial comes out, reluctantly, for Barbara Cargill’s confirmation to another term as chair of the Texas State Board of Education. The newspaper’s reasoning: “(R)eality is that Cargill appears to have the votes. Were the nomination to be rejected, the question becomes whom the governor would nominate next. Two names that immediately surfaced […]

Also posted in Barbara Cargill, State Board of Education, TFN | 7 Comments