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AUSTIN -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing an expected tough re-election primary campaign against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, is under pressure from conservatives in his party to veto a recently-passed measure by the Legislature which would strip further authority from the elected State Board of Education over textbook selection.
House Bill 4294, backed by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), would empower the state Commissioner of Education to create a list of approved textbooks in electronic form which local schools would then be able to choose from if they so desired for adoption at the local level.
A spokeswoman with the governor's press office, contacted by phone Wednesday, said the governor "hasn't read the bill yet" and "doesn't feel he should comment about possible action before he's read it."
The bill would enable the Texas Education Agency to completely bypass the State Board of Education, which traditionally has the authority to review textbooks selected by the state for suitability. Textbook hearings have in the past been rowdy affairs with partisan politics heavily influencing selection.
Proponents say the measure would give local school districts more flexibility in selection of electronic curriculum, but conservatives see the move as yet another attempt to eliminate elected oversight over the state's education bureaucracy.
"HB 4294 is a backdoor way for unscrutinized, digitized textbooks to be placed in front of our children's eyes," charges teacher Donna Garner, an activist in the English/Language Arts curriculum arena. "HB 4294 creates a separate Commissioner's List with no public hearings and no SBOE authority over the content of the digitized textbooks. Any publisher with any kind of agenda could reach every public school student in this state, and parents would have absolutely no recourse to stop it."
Garner and others have created an online petition urging Perry to veto the measure.
Introduced by State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Austin) and sponsored in the Senate by State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), the bill got bipartisan support en route to passage. Supporters insist it is necessary to enable local school districts to quickly access online and digital technologies to improve student learning -- but pointedly neglect to address the question about elected oversight.
"HB 4294 is about flexibility. It will allow local school districts the ability to choose cutting-edge, relevant content that will best meet the needs of their students," wrote TASA executive director Johnny Veselka in the San Antonio Express-News. "Schools would have the ability to use state textbook funds to purchase a much wider range of relevant, up-to-date instructional materials and technological equipment."
In addition to politicians, the bill received strong lobbying support from computer giant Hewlett-Packard, which stands to reap substantial financial rewards if schools around the state opt for more electronic curriculums and more laptop learning centers.
"I don't think anyone is arguing that we don't need to move toward more electronic textbooks," said State Board of Education member David Bradley (R-Beaumont). "The nasty part of the bill ... is that it bypasses the state board. Textbooks are defined as both paper and electronic. The big issue is will parents lose control over content?"
Garner, who authored part of the state's new English/Language arts standards, says the problem with computers and electronic curricula is mechanical unreliability and the fact that studies have shown little or no improvement in student achievement when moving away from traditional bound textbooks.
Testifying before the state Senate on May 19, Garner quoted figures from the Texas Technology Immersion Pilot program--in which a control group of students was taught entirely with electronic textbooks-- and concluded: "...little, if any, positive student academic achievement was attained. Instead, laptops broke, costing large sums to repair. Student self-directed learning did not show positive gains ...Laptop students during all but the fourth year attended school less regularly."
Comments
PLEASE CALL THE GOVERNOR AND ASK HIM TO VETO HB 4294
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428, Austin, Texas 78711
Phone: (512) 463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849
The Texas Senate and House passed HB 4294. When they did so, they voted to take the authority away from our elected State Board of Education members to reject electronic textbooks.
This bill allows the SBOE to make "comments," but that is all. That means the unelected Commissioner of Education (a.k.a., Texas Education Agency staff) and the experts he/TEA choose are in charge of children's digitized textbooks in Texas. What Texas legislators failed to understand is that while the SBOE will still write the curriculum standards, it is an equally important task that the SBOE also INTERPRETS and ENFORCES them. HB 4294 lets TEA through the ("Commissioner's List") do that – a shift to unaccountable appointees.
From Journal Record: Sen Patrick: And, again, I like this technology, I support the bill, but I want to be sur
on the record, we are letting the public and the Members know we are moving to a position where the SBOE does not have the authority to reject a book, an electronic textbook, from the Commissioner's list. I think that s’ a quantum step forward, and I just want to be sure we know– (for a complete transcription, see below)
Publishers of digitized textbooks will no longer have to go through the careful scrutiny of the present textbook adoption process, but will now submit their digitized textbooks to the limited scrutiny of a few experts chosen by the Commissioner/TEA. Further, these publishers can "update" their textbooks without the permission of anyone. Allowing publishers to "self-monitor" themselves by adding or removing content at their pleasure is totally against the transparent process that every parent, teacher, citizen, and taxpayer deserves. While the legislature cries out for "more transparency," they show little concern for that when it comes to the most important teaching
teaching tool a teacher uses: your child's textbook.
This is a dangerous precedent for the Texas Legislature to set for our public school children. The present textbook adoption process protects children from factual errors by allowing concerned people from all over this state to read line-by-line through proposed textbooks and to submit their comments at public hearings before these books are adopted. That "umbrella of protection" has now been lost.
Here are examples of quotes from textbooks that have already been put on the "Commissioner's List" without any SBOE or public scrutiny. Factually incorrect statements with obvious political agendas will show up in your child's textbook, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
"Greenpeace is a mainstream organization" ( then they proceeded to give out their 1-8oo number to school children)
"Ronald Reagan's policies helped the rich but hurt the poor"
"Many children today no longer pledge their allegiance to
their allegiance to a particular country or nation, they now pledge their allegiance to the planet that keeps us alive"
This bill authorizes fines only if publishers "knowingly violate" the rule against textbook factual errors. It does not fine publishers who UNKNOWINGLY include factual errors, which the SBOE presently penalizes. Which one do you think they will claim to be the case-- if they ever get caught-- since no one will be checking?
If we allow an APPOINTED Commissioner of Education (i.e. TEA) to have control over what our students in Texas will be taught rather than the ELECTED State Board of Education, we lose our voice and our influence as voters, parents, and community members. This bill is NOT about Laptops, it's about taking away our voice, our freedom, and say so over our children's education. This is another form of soft tyranny! Public Education is just now earning parent's trust back - this is one incremental step in the WRONG direction.
I have long suppoorted electronic textbooks and technology for students, but this bill is not about that. It is to strip the SBOE of its oversite as to the factural material presented in textbooks to our students in an effort to indoctrinate them with false lies.
The most recent was the science curriculum which brought this all about. The
Evolutionist Aetheist group wanted to futher its agenda by removing the "strengths and weaknesses" language. The textbooks companies
had refused to allow any discussion of weaknesses for the last twenty years. They were furious when the SBOE insisted that scientific weaknesses (many whiich have really
come to the forefront in the last 20-25 years)
be included iin the new textbooks.
The Evolutionist immediately cried foul and insisted that this was an effort to put God and Biblical Creation back into our schools. The SBOE never entertained such thoughts or language, insisting only that true
factural science be included.
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