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Gov. Perry has long advocated for Homeschooling families: Gov. Perry Encourages Home School Families............"For more and more students every day, the best educational option is a classroom in the home.
Every child is entitled to a public education, but public education is not entitled to every child.
Whatever decision is made on the location and style of a child’s education, I believe the responsibility and freedom of that choice resides with a child’s parent.
For those who choose to teach their children at home, I believe government regulation should stop at the front door.
That is why I encourage our legislators to take a close look at the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act sponsored by Representative King. The family unit is the essential building block of our society and we should do our best to protect it here in Texas.
I am proud of the steps we have taken in Texas to protect the freedoms of home school families, and encourage this essential segment of our state’s overall approach to education.
We have worked with the Texas Education Agency to clarify the rights of home schoolers, including the process for awarding transfer credits.
In 2003, we passed a law that requires state colleges and universities to use the same admission standards for all students, regardless of the type of school they graduated from.
I hope that this session is remembered for our success in clarifying even more protections for home school families.
Parental involvement is essential to every child’s success, and it’s hard to imagine a more involved parent than one who makes the sacrifices required to teach their child at home.
This investment in your children’s education will not only improve their future... but the future of this entire state.
Thank you all for your commitment. May God bless you and, through you, may He continue to bless the great state of Texas."
Meet Barbara Cargill, the SBOE's Latest Chief ……..>>>Her supporters say the Baylor University graduate is a mild-tempered, fair leader who is well suited to lead the 15-member board. Her critics say she is a dangerous culture warrior who injects her religious and political agenda into the classrooms of the country’s second largest public school system. But for those who follow the board’s every movement, there’s agreement on one point: For better or worse, Cargill’s tenure will likely bring more of the same.
Cargill’s immediate predecessors in the chair were, like her, a part of the majority-Republican board’s tightly knit gang of six social conservatives.
Because of that, her appointment “doesn’t change a lot,” said Dan Quinn, the spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, a liberal watchdog of the board and fierce opponent of its social conservatives.
“She has voted in lockstep with Gail Lowe and Don McLeroy in the past," he said. "There's no real space between them."
McLeroy held the chairmanship from 2007 to 2009 and said Lowe and Cargill share many qualities. “She is so similar to Gail with her complete integrity and honesty," he said. "Those two ladies are some of the finest I ever met."
McLeroy suffered the same fate as Lowe during the 2009 legislative session. The Bryan dentist, who lost to current member Thomas Ratliff in the 2010 Republican primary, describes Cargill and Lowe as some of his best friends. He said Cargill was “the scientist on the board” and that she was known for independently investigating all the issues that came before it.
The board’s longest-serving current member, David Bradley, echoed McLeroy. “She does her homework,” said Bradley, who consistently votes with Cargill. “Sometimes she would make light of the fact that when I get to the meeting I'm just opening my agenda for the first time.”
He also praised her modesty, a quality he said would serve her well as chairwoman. “I don't think you'll ever find her using the word 'I,'” he said. “She blushes at the drop of a hat, quicker than Gail Lowe. So the guys on the board have to be very careful.”
Cargill’s critics point to her role in the rewrite of science curriculum as evidence that she has used her position on the board to promote her own political and religious beliefs. She was instrumental in pushing the new science standards that students "analyze, evaluate, and critique" evidence for scientific explanations for theories like evolution — a move praised by the Discovery Institute, which supports research challenging what its website refers to as "neo-Darwinian theory." During the debate on science curriculum, she also passed an amendment that added the discussion of different scientific estimates on the age of the universe to the standards. <<<<………………
Imagine how much money would be saved if all states did what Texas did.
And education would probably be better.