Crucial State Board of Education District 10 Runoff Election

"All In Perspective" column for this week.  Published in the Georgetown Advocate, Hill Country News, and Jarrell Star Ledger. 

Although a growing number of families are opting for education alternatives, nearly 90% of America's children still attend public schools. Every day, more than 55 million students will spend most of their day having their hearts and minds shaped by the curriculum and staff of a public school. What is taught in the classroom today will impact society for decades to come, and consequently every American should be concerned about state of public education.

Although public schools are governed by democratic process, voters display a shocking lack of interest in education-related elections. Local school board elections are often held separately from higher profile contests, and voter participation languishes between 4 and 8 percent. However, even in races for the powerful Texas State Board of Education, voters and media pay scant attention to candidates who will exert enormous influence over our children. In addition to managing the Permanent School Fund, elected members of the SBOE approve charter schools and set curriculum standards for textbooks and testing. Since Texas is one of the largest consumers of educational textbooks, these standards can have national influence.

So what about that curriculum? Many pundits claim that public education should be somehow morally 'neutral,' but a truly values neutral curriculum is simply impossible. As much as some secularists would like to pretend there is no difference between right and wrong, they merely replace traditional values with a 'new' moral code. From their own sense of what is 'right' or 'fair,' they assert that society should 'tolerate,' (i.e., never criticize) the 'new' values. In this alternate worldview, the new 'good' includes things like abortion, labor unions, and government management of all resources. The new 'bad' includes public prayer, chastity, and traditional marriage. Education is probably the most important front line in the culture war, and the reality is that a set of values will be embedded into public school curriculum. The question is, whose values?

Voters do have a say in 'whose values,' and this year we select new representatives to the Texas SBOE. Locally, Republicans return to the polls this month for a runoff election between Tom Maynard and Rebecca Osborne, and since the district leans Republican (and the Democrat candidate is extremely left-wing,) the GOP nominee is favored to win in November. While most voters are focused on the Cruz/Dewhurst senate race, it is imperative that we look carefully at the SBOE candidates.

Candidate Tom Maynard taught for13 years, has served as a local school board trustee, and is now the Executive Director of the Texas FFA. At FFA, Maynard oversees educational programs for more than 84,000 students, and has been recognized for his successful leadership. His compelling personal story includes a childhood spent at Cal Farley's Boys Ranch, and Maynard exemplifies the kind of values that foster successful adults and responsible citizens. The experience and wisdom he would bring to the SBOE has swept the endorsements of conservative community leaders, GOP members of the current SBOE, and the Republican state representatives of the district.

Round Rock teacher Rebecca Osborne is something of an enigma. According to public records, she affiliated with the Democrat Party as recently as 2008. Although she did garner a few GOP endorsements, other endorsements are curious, (such as the editor of a magazine regarding Austin's 6th Street rock scene, CONTENT WARNING:  Rank and Revue). Her financial contributors include known Democrats, and Osborne has refused to answer candidate surveys from prominent conservative organizations.

Early voting continues through July 27, Election day is July 31. Voter turnout is projected to be dismal, so a handful of votes could make the difference. I strongly urge all concerned voters to make time to participate in this crucial election. We need solid, conservative leaders on the Texas SBOE, who will take a stand for the values that have made this country great. Our future depends on it.

Polling Locations and Times:  http://www.wilco.org/CountyDepartments/Elections/tabid/450/Default.aspx 

Tom Maynard Strongly Endorsed for Texas SBOE 10: UPDATED

UPDATE:  Four more conservative groups, and four additional members of the Texas State Board of Education have now endorsed Tom Maynard for SBOE 10. 

A partial listing of the endorsements for Texas State Board of Education, District 10 candidate Tom Maynard.  While you might have issues with one or two of these names, I think it highly significant that such a large number of Republicans have come forward to unify behind Maynard in what is not exactly a high profile race. 

Early voting starts Monday, July 23, and continues through July 27.  Election Day is July 31. 

• Todd Staples, Texas Agriculture Commissioner 
• Texas Right to Life PAC
• Texas Alliance for Life
• Texas Homeschool Coalition
• Young Conservatives of Texas 
• Dr. Marsha Farney, State Board of Education Member 
• Pat Hardy, State Board of Education Member, District 11 
• Gail Lowe, State Board of Education Member, District 14
• Barbara Cargill, Chairwoman of the State Board of Education, District 8
• Charles Garza, State Board of Education Member, District 5
• Ken Mercer, State Board of Education Member, District 5
• Terri Leo, State Board of Education Member, District 6
• David Bradley, State Board of Education Member, District 7 
• Rep. Marva Beck 
• Rep. Byron Cook 
• Rep. Larry Gonzales 
• Rep. Lois Kolkhorst 
• Rep. Charles Schwertner 
• Rep. Paul Workman 
• Rep. John Zerwas 
• Rep. Ralph Sheffield
• Russell Martinez, Senate District 5, Republican Committeeman 
• Megan Higginbotham, Senate District 5, Republican Committeewoman 
• Former State Rep. Dan Gattis 
• Jana Duty, Williamson County Attorney 
• Dee Hobbs, Assistant Williamson County Attorney 
• Don Tracy, Cedar Park City Councilman 
• Bobby Gutierrez, Williamson County Constable, Precinct 3 
• George Garver, Mayor of Georgetown 
• Steve Fought, Sun City Community Leader 
• Jim Schwertner, President Schwertner Farms 
• Betty Schleder, Sun City Community Leader 

Education Elites to Parents: "WE Know What's Best For Your Children"

One tactic employed by Education Bureaucracy Elites is to try to convince voters that somehow education issues are 'non-political' and 'non-partisan.'  Hence the Democrats' campaign to take away from voters the right to elect the State Board of Education, and instead establish an 'appointed' Board .  In Elite minds, voters are just too uneducated to understand the role of the SBOE.  However, this attitude is not limited to elections, but these Leftists extend their condescension to parents as well.   According to Democrat candidate Judy Jennings and her supporters, parents do not know what is best for their own children, and those matters should be left to really smart people like...Judy Jennings.

At a candidate forum for SBOE District 10 candidates on Tuesday, although moderators did not ask questions regarding homeschooling, Jennings went out of her way to state that she has "never, ever supported home schools."  Now, most families utilize the public school system, but there are some children who cannot learn in the 'one-size-fits-all' approach, and the local public school simply cannot meet the child's educational needs.  While there are numerous reasons parents homeschool, for my own household, our pediatrician confirmed that homeschooling is the one of the only options for our child.  Apparently in Jenning's opinion, my child should be forced into a school where he cannot be educated and cannot thrive. 

Jennings' stance really isn't surprising since she is typical of groups that are determined to stop parents from educating their own children.  For example, the School For All Children Act or SFACA, is dedicated to overturning the Texas Supreme Court's Leeper Decision recognizing parental rights in education, specifically the right to homeschool.  Under the ruling, homeschooling parents must use curriculum and teach core subjects.  Leeper also prevents the State from interfering with private schools.  The SFACA, however, characterizes homeschools as "educational neglect," and longs for government control of private schools.  (The SFACA's candidate questionnaire is posted below.)

Judy Jennings and company want to control the education of ALL children, not just those at public schools. Her hostility to Dr. Marsha Farney's Christianity leads one to wonder how far these leftist ideologues will go if they do gain control; what are their plans for private schools and homeschools?  The reality is that Jenning's campaign is far from 'non-partisan,' and represents a plan to undermine parental rights. 

In comparison, Republican candidate Dr. Marsha Farney wants to make public education the very best it can be, but supports our parental rights and has no plans to interfere with private education.  Texans who believe parents have the right to make educational choices and wish to continue to have a voice in public education via elections should support Marsha Farney. 




School For All Children ACT Questionnaire 2010

The Hundred Years Curriculum War

When researching the history of a particular war, a good historian takes great pains to examine the causes, for hostile action is often the result of decades, or even centuries of tension. Yet, in a concerted effort to discredit the Texas State Board of Education, leftist ideologues assert the SBOE launched a surprise attack by suddenly deciding to rewrite history in a way that favors an ultra-right, fringe point of view. The “history of the teaching of history” in America, however, demonstrates that recent SBOE actions were only one battle in a war that has been raging since the late nineteenth century.

While the U.S. Constitution makes no provision for education, (a state responsibility,) Americans established publicly supported schools almost from the time they set foot on the continent. Historically, local entities developed schools that reflected American values, taught the 3 “R's,” and instilled a sense of history and civic duty. Early educators realized the potential of public education to influence and change society, and in the late 19th century adherents of the new Marxist philosophy took note.

One such Socialist ideologue, John Dewey, undertook to commandeer public education as a means to implementing fundamental societal changes. A Columbia University professor who opposed individualism* and concepts of objective truth, Dewey sought to reform education and cultivate a curriculum that would advance Socialism, unity of thought, and an atheistic humanism. Known for his advocacy of propaganda in both journalism and educational curriculum, his teachings launched an American “hundred years” war over public school education. Since that time, education reformists have been gradually redirecting children from studying 'history' to 'social studies,' a subtle, but meaningful shift.

Fast forward to 21st Century Texas. In 2009 the Texas Education Agency assembled panels to review and revise social studies curriculum standards, and appointed mostly leftist ideologues who proceeded to carry out a not-so-subtle assault on the foundational principles of our country. Among their recommendations were the removal of Judeo-Christian holidays while retaining teaching of other religious festivals, replacing the term “American” with “Global Citizen,” teaching that our nation is “imperialistic, oppressive, and exploitative,” and removing references to individuals such as Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein. Rather than rubber-stamp the work of the review panels, the elected SBOE members fulfilled their duty to the electorate by carefully examining and rejecting the more outlandish recommendations, while adding back to the standards a more balanced view of American history.

Hence the firestorm. When the academic Left realized the SBOE would not allow these socialistic world-view changes, Liberals enlisted the media in a campaign of distortion about Texas' curriculum standards, falsely claiming that minorities, liberal groups, and even Thomas Jefferson had been removed. Fortunately, the entire text of recommendations is public record, and these allegations are easily disproved.

Now, however, Democrats are attempting to exploit the issue. Yesterday, the leftist group Texas Freedom Network released results of a push-poll claiming that most Texans oppose the SBOE revisions. Interestingly enough, initially only 32% of respondents opposed the revisions, and only after TFN “explained” the process did the number rise to 57%, a clear indication that TFN's motive was to manipulate public opinion.

Locally, ardent Liberal Judy Jennings, who is running as a Democrat for SBOE District 10, is desperately trying to keep the controversy alive, and whining that students should not be learning the difference between legal and illegal immigration. (seriously). Furthermore, in the curriculum standards on Joe McCarthy, Jennings decries inclusion of the Venona Papers, primary source documents that demonstrate the scope and power of the American Communist Party during the McCarthy years. Should she be elected, Jennings vows to remove such 'outrages' from the standards.

Other than promising to cling to liberal/progressive curriculum standards, the Jennings campaign doesn't seem to offer much in the way concrete proposals, and like many candidates for education-sector offices, her website is covered with vague, 'for-the-children' platitudes.

Voters in SBOE District 10, which includes all of Williamson County, should repudiate the liberal/progressive ideology espoused by Jennings, and plan to support Dr. Marsha Farney. While Jenning's degree is in educational psychology, Farney holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas. She touts a superb resume, and clearly states her goals for the SBOE, which in addition to emphasizing core skills in curriculum, include insuring more education dollars go to the classroom rather than central administration.

Supremely qualified for the State Board of Education, Dr. Marsha Farney needs our support. Liberal/Progressives are pouring money into the Jennings campaign in the hopes of solidifying their dominance of public education. Visit Farney's campaign website for information on how to help, and be sure to vote for her this November. An extension of the culture wars, the curriculum wars will continue, and we need warriors like Marsha Farney on the front line.

*Dewey often referred to protecting 'individualism,' but, in a spectacular example of what would later be called Orwellian Good-speak, Dewey redefined the term as a kind of 'non-individual individualism,' wholly subservient to the needs of society. (Reconstruction in Philosophy, The School and Society)
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