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Don’t forget the State Board of Education
(SBOE)!
Solid education is the foundation of an informed electorate.
[Note:
We welcome those members of the Austin
Tea Party and others who signed the petition
against the terrible SBOE redistricting plan.
If you do not wish to receive future
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FYI, we typically send around one
newsletter a month or less—only during heated
legislative and/or SBOE battles would we exceed
that.
Thank you.]
As we look forward to the
upcoming elections, we at Texans for Better
Science Education (TBSE) want to alert our
conservative friends of the importance of the
SBOE race at the bottom of the ballot. It is so
easy for this race to be overlooked! But it is
foundationally important to the conservative
cause, so we are sending this newsletter to many
conservative groups not usually included on our
newsletters. Please forward this on to other
conservative leaders that you know.
In recent SBOE actions the
conservative representatives have done an
excellent job with what they had to work with.
The biggest problem is that the conservative are
in a minority and have been for a long time,
even though there has been a GOP majority. That
is because many RINOs (republicans in name only)
have been elected and these RINOs often team up
with the liberals and Democrats to control
issues before the SBOE.
Even so,
conservatives have often put together fragile
majorities on specific issues, resulting in
massive improvements to the Texas standards.
The next big SBOE action
will be to revise the TEKS standards in 2013
followed by a review and adoption of all the
instructional materials in the succeeding years.
But, before that, will be
the 2012 primary and general election where
representatives of
all SBOE
districts will be elected due to the recent
redistricting. So
this election is where conservative supporters
need to focus for now.
For years the liberals have
controlled education and used it to teach
liberal/progressive ideas as if these were
obvious and unquestionable facts. If the youth
are taught those unquestioned ways year after
year, this liberal indoctrination will steadily
instill a liberal mindset in the electorate. It
is no wonder that liberals have recently enjoyed
great support from young voters. Unfortunately
the conservative leaders have long neglected the
schools and let the liberals have their way in
that arena.
For several years there was a substantial
conservative minority on the SBOE and they
accomplished much in the areas of language arts,
social studies, history, science and math. But
for the last couple of years the liberals have
gotten back in control by supporting the
election of RINOs who will work with and support
the liberal ideas in education. We want to call
on our conservative friends to wake up, take
action, and stop the liberal steamroller that
sneaks RINOs through the SBOE elections at the
bottom of the ballot.
Another important
consideration for supporting the SBOE is your
representatives in the legislature because the
legislature empowers the SBOE and it can just as
well limit the SBOE or even disable it. Each
session the liberals enter bills to disband,
limit, or hamper the SBOE in various ways and
sometimes they succeed. So it is very important
to question the state legislature candidates
about their stance on the SBOE. Do they support
a strong SBOE able to assert the will of the
electorate in education? Do they intend to
support the solid conservatives on the SBOE?
Don’t let these issues slip by! With continued
neglect we could well find ourselves with no
representation at all in determining educational
policy. Neglect of education as the foundation
of a well informed electorate will lead us to
repeat the communist and socialist experiments
of the past – right here at home.
Here are some suggestions
for conservative leaders:
·
Make sure the
people in your group know your SBOE and
legislative districts. Remember, your district
is your turf! Don’t let the liberals dominate
your turf.
·
Invite a
conservative SBOE member to speak (they don’t
necessarily have to be a candidate in you
district). Let them educate your group on the
important issues and people in your local
districts.
·
Who are the SBOE
candidates in your district? Are they Dems,
RINOs or solid conservative? Encourage personal
support from your people with both money and
volunteer time for the solid conservatives.
·
Ditto for the
legislative candidates. The legislature controls
the power of the SBOE! Do they support a strong
SBOE representing the will of the people? And
very important is the Speaker of the House
because he appoints all the committees and
thereby controls what bills, and in what form
those bills will come to the floor for a vote!
·
Is your local GOP
office focused on the SBOE? Make sure they know
of your desire for solid conservatives!
·
Develop a fact
sheet for the candidates in your districts and
include the SBOE.
·
Help find and
encourage capable conservatives to run for the
SBOE! How can one get started and make it work?
There is probably no better resource than the
solid conservatives that have recently served.
Note that one must file between November
28th and December 15th
(6PM) so
time is getting short.
The solid conservatives
currently on the Board are Barbara Cargill
(District 8), Terri Leo (District 6), David
Bradley (District 7), Ken Mercer (District 5),
Charlie Garza (District 1), and Gail Lowe
(District 14). The others are openly Democratic
liberals, or make-believe conservatives, or
worse.
The following links will be helpful in
identifying your district and representatives
and their basic contact information.
SBOE members:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3803.
District map:
http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/redist/pdf/e1018/map.pdf
2012
District map:
http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/download/SBOE/PLANE120.pdf
Who represents you?
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.
Let’s
take action to support a strong conservative
SBOE!
Frank Mayo
TBSE
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