Why in the name of common sense is Cynthia Dunbar on the State Board of Education when she despises public education so intensely? She is not there to improve public schools but to undermine them, and says as much in a recently published book she wrote.
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It’s just too much. Anyone with Dunbar’s animus toward public schools should never be in charge of them or have an important voice on what is in our students’ textbooks. It’s a travesty that the state’s top officials aren’t attacking the problems created by this dysfunctional board and demanding that Dunbar step down.
But we will. Dunbar should resign and leave the governing of this state’s public schools to people who use them, serve them, care about them and understand that they are the future of Texas.
Yes, it is a travesty that there has been complete silence from our state’s leadership over this. Of course, given the attitudes many of them have towards public schools, it’s hardly surprising. I appreciate the Statesman taking a stand on this, but we all know Dunbar isn’t going anywhere. If she had the capacity for shame necessary for a resignation, she wouldn’t have written her atrocious book in the first place. This is a problem that will need to be solved at the ballot box. I hope that when that time comes, there will be sufficient coverage of the race for Dunbar’s SBOE seat, to help remind people of just what’s at stake. It would be an even bigger travesty if the cover of darkness that usually surrounds the SBOE works to Dunbar’s advantage again.
Oh, and by the way, Dunbar (and for that matter David Bradley) isn’t the only nut on the SBOE. Meet Ken Mercer, from San Antonio. There’s just no end to these clowns.
Finally, I see that State Rep. Donna Howard (D, Austin) plans to introduce a bill that would make SBOE elections non-partisan, among other reforms. From her press release on the subject, it’s clear she has Dunbar in mind. While I can see the merit of this, it’s not clear to me that removing the partisan labels will make it easier to vote Dunbar out. I’ll want to learn more about this before I consider supporting it.