Our State Board of Education is failing Texas schoolchildren

In March, 1836 during the Texas Revolution, General Sam Houston wrote these words to Governor Henry Smith deploring the bickering fledgling government that was failing to keep its army supplied: “No language can express the anguish of my soul … What will the world think of the authorities of Texas?” One hundred and seventy-four years later, the same question might be asked.

Major national articles have called attention to the voting bloc of ultra-conservatives who dominate our Texas State Board of Education. At their bi-monthly meetings, at a pace rivaling that of a cattle auction, board members routinely introduce scores of amendments overriding the recommendations of educators pertaining to textbooks and the curriculum.

Because of Texas’s out-size impact on the textbook market, a good part of the world is indeed taking notice. But the impact, of course, is even greater here, where the whims of the board determine what must be taught in our classrooms.

Texas newspapers have taken notice, too, and their coverage has contributed greatly to public awareness of the folly of our current board. Numerous editorials have called for the ouster of the most extreme incumbents. More than a year ago, the Austin American-Statesman said of the representative from the district where I am running, “In effect, Dunbar is on the board to sabotage public education,” and called for her to resign.

That editorial helped me decide to run, even though I am a Democrat in a district that was redrawn in 2001 to favor a Republican. Of course, there have been changes in the district’s electorate since then, and I don’t believe the majority of its voters are looking for partisanship in their board member. That’s why I’m running first and foremost as an educator with relevant experience in developing lesson plans that kindle young minds with the excitement of learning.

Lost in the rancorous debate over science and social studies is that time and money for art, music, dance, theater and physical education are dwindling. The arts and PE have been cut time and again as public-school funding has failed to keep up with costs. Yet some of the most exciting work I’ve done recently has involved integrating into art lessons the history of Tejanos in the first Texas Revolution, fought a generation before Sam Houston’s. But who will benefit if funding in these areas continue to be cut?

As a board member, I will accept the recommendations of scientists on the teaching of science, of historians on the teaching of history, and of educators on the best ways to reach all of our students, who come to school from diverse backgrounds and with a variety of learning styles and needs. I will work collegially to move past the unproductive contention that has been the hallmark of this board toward developing a public school system worthy of this great state and the vision of Sam Houston.

Before even coming to Texas, Sam Houston signed into law the measure creating public schools in Tennessee. “No longer will the means of elementary learning be limited to those whose private resources are equal to the expense,” he wrote as Governor, “But the road to distinction in every department of science and moral excellency, will be equally open to all.”

Like Sam Houston, I am unreservedly, unabashedly and proudly for public education. With your help getting there, as a board member, I’ll work tirelessly and faithfully to open “the road to distinction” to the schoolchildren of Texas.