Source: https://texaslegislativeupdate.wordpress.com/tag/aclu/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 12:29:35+00:00

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Protect the Texas State Board of Education From ACLU and Texas Freedom Network, Oppose SB 1348 on Senate Floor Today: Call Your Senator Now!
Texas State Board of Education in jeopardy. SB 1348, by Democrat Senator Leticia Van De Putte, is on the Senate Floor Calendar today and could be up for a vote. SB 1348 requires you to be a university faculty member and have a Ph.D. in education or a “terminal degree” to be on an expert review team regarding K-12 curriculum changes by the TX SBOE, like the History/Social Studies standards.
Who supports this bill – both the ACLU and the Texas Freedom Network.
The Texas Freedom Network wants to abolish the Texas SBOE and transfer its responsibilities to the unelected TEA, nullify the social studies standards passed in 2010, and is working against the conformation of Gail Lowe for Chair of the SBOE.
You’ll recall that the elected SBOE saved from elimination the following: Christmas, the Liberty Bell, Neil Armstrong, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk and used their current operating procedures to ensure accurate teaching about religious freedom in the First Amendment of the Constitution. The elected SBOE also ensured that public school students would learn about the U.S. Constitution, our Founding Fathers, and the key concept of American Exceptionalism.
Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express News Editorial Board and Austin liberals, face it, you’re not mainstream and you don’t speak for “mainstream” Texans. That’s why your narrow views continue to get rejected by a majority of Texans through their elected representatives at the Texas State Board of Education.
The recent passage of the resolution on “Balanced Treatment of Religious Groups” in textbooks, seeking to prevent discrimination against religion, was another stinging loss suffered by the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and yes, the Texas Freedom Network. This is the latest example of how these groups are completely out of touch with the beliefs and concerns of Texans.
These three groups were all heavily against the passage of a simple, yet detailed resolution that has the goal of teaching accurate information about all religions, and eliminating the Pro-Islam/anti-Christian bias that the author and others show evidence of, in such resolution.
By the way, the resolution talked about textbooks approved for use starting in 1999-2003, and some of those textbooks may still be being used in Texas classrooms today. Why? Because SBOE rules do not allow for resolutions on textbooks that are supposed to be the ones being used in classrooms. So you can’t criticize current books, so the criticism was based on the most recent flawed books that could be discussed, as well as textbooks used in other states. And if the resolution could have included such criticism, there’s strong evidence of problems in our current textbooks as well. Not even employees at TEA know for sure, though, if these 1999-2003 textbooks have been completely removed.
The Houston Chronicle could not wait to pile on and join the losing side and accuse the SBOE of engaging in politics and claiming the SBOE effort was not supported by facts. Yet the Houston Chronicle itself did not supply facts to support it’s own claim. The Houston Chronicle relied on politics themselves to support their position, relying on the flawed report of the extreme liberal group, Texas Freedom Network, and then pointing to the election results of the presenter of the resolution, Randy Rives. Why not just produce a link to the resolution with the details and facts that back up the claim?
Shouldn’t all this be irrelevant? Facts are facts and if Randy Rives and others show facts and detail to support their conclusion that a pro-Islam/anti-Christian bias exists in Texas textbooks, it shouldn’t matter what election he was involved in. But since the Houston Chronicle brought up Rives’ election history, why didn’t they bring up the fact that he was the president of his local school board, Ector County I.S.D. in the Odessa area? I guess that would make it look like he knows a thing or two about education.
And if the Houston Chronicle was so interested in facts, why didn’t they cite to a professor or educator who testified against the resolution at the hearing last week? Because no such professor or educator presented such testimony. In fact almost every person and group who testified, testified in favor of the resolution, except for the ACLU, AUSCS, and TFN.
And why didn’t the Houston Chronicle tell you that Texas Freedom Network is a liberal group which has no expertise in education matters? They spent time telling you that the Board members who supported this resolution were “conservative”, so where’s the equal treatment? How do we know that Texas Freedom Network is liberal, you may ask?
Let me just say this, Texas Freedom Network was founded by Cecile Richards, who is the current president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a former deputy chief of staff for Nancy Pelosi.
And wait until you read the super spin in the San Antonio Express News op-ed by Veronica Flores-Paniagua. Be careful when reading, you might get dizzy. There are even less facts in this bizarre hit piece. According to Flores-Paniagua, Texas should “tolerate” inaccurate and biased information in textbooks. I disagree.
Austin, Texas-Last week, the Texas State Board of Education released its updated social studies standards as voted on in its last meeting. After review, Liberty Institute released the following statement: “Liberty Institute applauds the State Board of Education (SBOE) for their hard work and strong dedication to the students of Texas, and especially for maintaining the integrity and timetable of the curriculum standards review process, which includes five public hearings and over a year of work that began in early 2009 and will conclude in May 2010 with a final public hearing and final vote”, said Jonathan Saenz, Director of Legislative Affairs, Liberty Institute.
” The public deserves to know that it was an unelected review panel (made up mostly of teacher-educrats), and not SBOE members, who tried to remove Christmas, the Liberty Bell, Daniel Boone, Albert Einstein, George Patton, and others from the standards and Independence Day and Thomas Edison were to be diminished, when this process began in 2009.” This is the type of review committee that the opposition now wants to send the social studies standards back to, and start over.
“ The public also should know that it was a Texas professor, Jesus F. de la Teja, who proposed removing Alexander Graham Bell and Neil Armstrong completely and Columbus partially, from the social studies standards, while asking for the National Organization of Women (NOW) to be added. This is surely not the common sense direction to go for the education of our children. Thankfully, the SBOE has corrected the missteps of others, “, said Saenz. Professor de la Teja criticized the SBOE at a Mexican American Legislative Caucus press conference, last month.
Historical Figures: Neil Armstrong, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Columbus (voted back into standards, previously removed by unelected review committees (Columbus/Edison-partial).
Tejano leaders: Juan N. Seguin, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Jose Antonio Navarro, others.
Landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases: Brown v. Bd of Education, Sweat v. Painter, Hernandez v. Texas, Roe v. Wade, Tinker v. Des Moines, Miranda v. Arizona.
Cultural/Notable Leaders: Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, James A. Baker III, Hillary Clinton, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Sam Walton, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E. B. Dubois, Irma Rangel, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Estee Lauder, Harriet Tubman, Todd Beamer, Mary Kay Ash, Roy Benavidez, John “Danny” Olivas, Henry B. Gonzalez, Jonas Salk, Hector P. Garcia, Carmen Loma Garza, Vernon J. Baker, Michael Dell, George Washington Carver, Michael DeBakey… Groups: LULAC, Black Panthers, NAACP, NRA, Moral Majority, Heritage Foundation.
BC/AD: SBOE members approved correct dating system, some teachers tried to change it to BCE/CE.
Media Contact: Jennifer Grisham, 202.297.1290 / 972.941.4453, jgrisham@libertyinstitute.org.
Or call our Austin, Texas office at 512-478-2220.

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