Tag Archives: SBOE

2016 primaries: State races

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s start with the Democratic race for Railroad Commissioner, and a few words from Forrest Wilder: The Gene Kelly Effect: Texas Democrats are almost perennially embarrassed by what you might call the Gene Kelly Effect — the depressing tendency of … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2016 primaries: State races

Primary Day is today

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: “Visit www.HarrisVotes.com to ensure you go to the correct voting location and to find your personal sample ballot for the Tuesday, March 1, Republican Party and Democratic Party Primary Elections,” said Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, encouraging … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Endorsement watch: Stragglers

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron ran a list of all their primary endorsements last Monday, which included recommendations in a couple of race where they had not included an accompanying editorial. They have now closed that gap, at least on the Democratic side, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trib overview of SBOE races

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

As always, there’s a lot of action in these low profile races. Among the contenders in the races to replace Republican Thomas Ratliff of Mount Pleasant and Democrat Martha Dominguez of El Paso is a 68-year-old East Texas retiree who … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Dakota Carter

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

As was the case in 2012, there is a three-way primary for the nomination in SBOE District 6, the one electoral entity that is subject to redistricting containing a Republican who represents me. I didn’t intend to do interviews for … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

2016 Election page is up

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here it is. A few notes: – This is for races that will appear on the Harris County ballot only. Our ballot is big enough, with enough contested primary races, that I didn’t have the time or the energy to … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Filing deadline highlights

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I’m taking a look at interesting bits from the state and Harris County Democratic Party filings. You can see the latter here; there isn’t a page dedicated to this on the TDP webpage (why?) but via this press release we … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Our stupid social studies

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Unbelievable, except that it totally is believable. The publisher of one of Texas’ controversial social studies textbooks has agreed to change a caption that describes African slaves as immigrant “workers” after a Houston-area mom’s social media complaints went viral over … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Our stupid social studies

Maybe Ratliff won’t step down from the SBOE after all

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Just when he thought he was out, they (might) pull him back in. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed a social conservative and former staffer for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to chair the Texas State Board of Education on Thursday. Donna Bahorich … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Maybe Ratliff won’t step down from the SBOE after all

Fraser and Ratliff to step down

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

There’s good news: State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, announced Tuesday that he is not running for re-election, ending a tenure at the Capitol that has spanned four decades. “There comes a time when leaders must take a look at … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

SBOE adopts history textbook changes it hasn’t read

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Awesome. After adopting hundreds of pages in last minute updates and corrections, the Texas State Board of Education approved new social studies textbooks Friday. All but the five Democrats on the 15-member board voted to accept products from all publishers … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on SBOE adopts history textbook changes it hasn’t read

SBOE defers new textbook decision

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

They’re funny even when they’re not trying to be. After an afternoon spent wrangling over the proper definition of jihad and the influence of Moses on the Founding Fathers, it was Common Core that ultimately derailed the State Board of … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on SBOE defers new textbook decision

It’s textbook approval time again

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

You know what that means, because we can’t do this sort of thing without controversy and a generous side order of knuckleheadedness. Bowing to public pressure, the world’s largest textbook publisher has revised misleading language on global warming in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on It’s textbook approval time again

Next in “What’s wrong with our textbooks”: Climate change

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: An examination of how proposed social studies textbooks for Texas public schools address climate change reveals distortions and bias that misrepresent the broad scientific consensus on the phenomenon. Climate education specialists at the National Center for Science … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People, Technology, science, and math | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Next in “What’s wrong with our textbooks”: Climate change

Time again to talk textbooks

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network sounded the alarm in the Sunday op-eds. The last time Texas adopted social studies textbooks – in 2002 – political activists and members of the state education board themselves demanded scores of changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Time again to talk textbooks

Primary runoff results

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So long, Dave. Riding a wave of conservative sentiment that Texas Republicans were not being led with a hard enough edge, state Sen. Dan Patrick crushed Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff election for lieutenant governor, ending … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Primary runoff results

SBOE does something OK

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as surprised as you are. Instead of making Mexican-American studies an official high school course, the Texas State Board of Education has settled on a tentative compromise that would allow school districts to decide whether to offer … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on SBOE does something OK

HISD board votes for Mexican-American studies class

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

You would think this wouldn’t be a big deal. The Houston school board, representing the largest district in Texas, threw its support Thursday behind the creation of a Mexican-American studies course in Texas public schools. The 9-0 vote followed some … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on HISD board votes for Mexican-American studies class

SBOE backs down on Algebra 2

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So much for that. Only high school students who pursue an honors plan or a diploma specializing in math and science will have to take algebra II under recommendations that the Texas State Board of Education preliminarily approved Thursday. Despite … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Are we going to require Algebra 2 or not?

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Apparently, despite what happened in the last Legislature, it’s still an open question. The State Board of Education has proposed toughening high school graduation requirements despite the Legislature’s clear intent last spring to provide more flexibility. The board’s draft plan … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Standing up for science

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Sure hope it did some good. A past Texas State Board of Education chairman and outspoken creationist urged his former colleagues on Tuesday to approve high school biology textbooks he said would “strike a final blow to the teaching of … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Standing up for science

SBOE getting set to review biology textbooks

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

TFN Insider sounds the alarm. We already knew that creationists on the State Board of Education had nominated anti-evolution ideologues to sit on teams reviewing proposed new high school biology textbooks in Texas. We now have seen the actual reviews … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on SBOE getting set to review biology textbooks

Ratliff and Patrick spar over CSCOPE

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Sounds like fun. The state curriculum system known as CSCOPE — little known until recently — can now add two hours of lively and at times testy debate to a long list of public appearances that includes State Board of … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ratliff and Patrick spar over CSCOPE

Patrick versus Ratliff

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

TFN Insider: Texas State Board of Education Vice Chairman Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, has already made clear his disgust over the political witch hunt that forced the state’s Education Service Centers to stop writing lesson plans in their CSCOPE curriculum … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Patrick versus Ratliff

Testing and charter bills pass

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A lot of stuff gets done at the last possible minute in the Legislature. The two big education bills were examples of this. The session’s two biggest school reform bills, one from each chamber, have danced the House and Senate … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Testing and charter bills pass

House approves charter expansion bill SB2

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A big step forward for those who would like to see more charters. Senate Bill 2 passed on a 105-34 vote on second reading. It now faces a third reading before it can be reconciled with a similar version the … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Legislative quick hits

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is the time of the session where there’s lots happening, and there isn’t always the time or space to stay on top of it all. So here are a few quick updates on things that are happening in an … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

SBOE passes anti-voucher resolution

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. The Texas State Board of Education voted 10-5 on Friday to urge the Legislature to reject proposals that would result in public funds being allocated for private educational institutions. The resolution, authored by Board of Education member … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on SBOE passes anti-voucher resolution

The redistricting commission idea rides again

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Jeff Wentworth is no longer in the Senate, but his signature idea for a bipartisan redistricting commission still lives, now in an expanded form. State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) filed a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday that would move responsibility for … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The redistricting commission idea rides again

Precinct analysis: Comparing 2012 and 2008, Senate and SBOE edition

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

To follow up on my previous examination of how the 2012 election returns looked in State House districts compared to the 2008 returns, I now have the data to look at other types of districts as well. You can find … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2012 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Patrick files his “school choice” bill

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: The State Board of Education currently oversees applications for charter school contracts, which state law caps at 215. Patrick’s Senate Bill 2 would create a new state entity to authorize the contracts and lift that cap, allowing … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Riddle wants to abolish the HCDE

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From Big Jolly: State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-150) filed HB945 [last] week. If enacted, it would abolish the Harris County Department of Education, transferring control of the assets to the Harris County Commissioners Court, and giving the commissioners one year … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Soto’s parting gift on textbooks

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Outgoing SBOE member Michael Soto will be missed. Soto, the Trinity University English professor who was knocked off in this year’s Democratic primary by the little-known Marisa Perez, spent much of his two years on the board grappling with frustration … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Some sanity on STAAR

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is a welcome development. A requirement that the state exams count toward 15 percent of a student’s course grade sparked a backlash last spring over the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, among parents whose ninth-graders … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Some sanity on STAAR