Board of education seeks to broaden textbook control
Attorney general asked to eliminate limits on its power to review content
Associated Press
AUSTIN - Texas Board of Education members aligned with social conservatives have asked the state attorney general to strike down restrictions on their power to review and reject the content of public school textbooks.
The request was initiated by Republican Terri Leo of Spring, one of five board members aligned with social conservatives and a critic of the 1996 legal opinion limiting board control over textbook content.
Leo requested the opinion with the approval of board Chairwoman Geraldine Miller.
Battles over content could touch on the teaching of evolution, what students are told about birth control and sexual abstinence, and interpretations of history.
Morales ruling 'erroneous'
Leo's request for a new opinion argued that the original one issued by former Attorney General Dan Morales was "erroneous on its face" and should be reversed, restoring full board authority over textbook selection.
The letter did not mention that the Legislature has repeatedly rejected bills in the past decade that would have given the board more control to screen and reject textbooks it might deem inappropriate for students.
Former state Sen. Bill Ratliff, who wrote the 1995 law that stripped the board of many of its powers and turned them over to local school boards, said he was "very clear" about his intention to include authority for textbook selection.
Ratliff, a Republican who later served as lieutenant governor, told the Dallas Morning News that Morales' opinion correctly interpreted the law.
"Nothing has changed," Ratliff said. "I am still sure that was the intent of the legislation."
Bipartisan support
While Republican members aligned with social conservatives have been the most ardent critics of the Morales opinion, other board members including some Democrats have supported restoring the panel's textbook-review authority.
After the law was passed, upset board members asked for an opinion from Morales, who upheld the restrictions. He ruled board members were required to approve textbooks that were free of errors and contained at least half of the essential knowledge and skills in their subjects.
Also supporting the Morales opinion at the time was Gov. George W. Bush's press secretary, Karen Hughes, and another GOP leader in the Legislature, Teel Bivins of Amarillo, then chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, a nonprofit organization that often spars with social conservative groups over religion in schools, said textbook selection had become bogged down by social conservatives' demands for changes on evolution, sex education and other sensitive topics.
"Every year, some board members demonstrate that given the opportunity, they would edit and change textbooks based not on the facts but on their personal beliefs," he said. "This is a road you don't want to go down if you want a good education system."
Opinion is force of law
An attorney general's opinion is a written interpretation of a law. It carries the weight and force of law unless modified or overturned by a judge, the Legislature or a subsequent attorney general's opinion.
Americans for Prosperity, a group that promotes conservative causes, argued that a new attorney general's opinion affirming the board's authority over textbook selection is long overdue.
"We feel strongly they do have the authority and responsibility to review textbooks," said Peggy Venable, the group's director.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3627042.html
Immersion was what helped generations of non-English European children to learn English ASAP when they arrived in this country, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't do the same for non-English speaking children from other parts of the world. Well, no reason but the teacher's union.
Incidentally, I think one of the reasons that some people on some threads get so riled up about Hispanic immigrants is precisely because of bilingual programs. They are very divisive and give the impression that Hispanics don't really want to learn English or be part of American society. This is not the truth, of course, and many Hispanics have even sued to get their kids out of "bilingual" classes.
"Bilingual education" has been a disaster from just about every perspective.
immersion programs???...what the hell is that???...liberal happy speak for higher taxes??
Bilingual programs are just a way some people get/keep thier jobs. Immersion was being used in the valley in 1991 - they know what they need.
>> Board member Joe Bernal, D-San Antonio, credits Texas bilingual programs for helping improve achievement of minority students when compared with similar students in other states. <<
WTF? Texas has just about the highest drop-out rate in the nation!
Pro-choice anyone? Let parents choose whether their kids are in one or the other.
Currently, parents are pressured, or not allowed at all, a choice in the education of their kids. The administrators always shuffle the kids in whatever way will gain the most dollars for the system.
The teacher asked my daughter's class to fill out a form that asked their race and ethnic group. My daughter answered 1/2 and 1/2. The teacher told her bluntly that she could not be half and half. She had to choose one or ther other, which meant either choose mother and reject father or vice versa. My daughter refused.
My wife and I were called in for a conference that was originally billed as a discipline problem with our daughter. It was then that the facts and motivations were uncovered. The asst principal stated that she really would like our daughter labeled "Spanish speaking" so that she could be placed in a bilingual class. There was extra funding available if the school met a certain threshold percentage of Spanish speaking children and the school was only 3 kids short of meeting that threshold. They were also pressuring a couple 4th general kids of Hispanic ancestry to be forced into the bilingual class in order to get the funding.
Follow the money. Change the criteria for getting the money and watch the education theories suddenly change.
""We're not out to undo years and years of what we've done," said board member Gail Lowe..."
Yeah, you really hate to stop doing something that's worked so well!
</sarcasm>
Have you ever heard of ANY problem that some so-called "educator" couldn't solve with more money?
This didn't work in CA and it won't work anywhere else.
What the dems are upset about is that they see the minorities getting out of the rut the dems have dug for them and now the minorities are turning away from the dems.
The only way to get them back is to emmerse them in their own languages and keep them from learning English - which keeps them from getting a good job, etc. Therefore, the minorities will remain dependent on the dems to DO FOR THEM.
DON'T ALLOW BILINGUAL - EXCEPT FOR NEW IMMIGRANTS - WHILE YOU'RE TEACHING THEM ENGLISH!!!
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0126english-learners26.html