Webmaster's Note: Following is commentary by one member of the State Board Of Education (SBOE) on HB 4 by Kent Grusendorf. After following education policy and legislation for years it is frightening that many of those people who are elected to represent us, continue to wage a battle against those elected to protect our children's education. The question is why? Regardless, parents and taxpayers have got to make known their will to keep our elected State Board Of Education responsible for review of textbooks. We can't un-elect a bureaucrat at the Texas Education Agency if they allow subject matter to be taught that taxpayers do not approve of. But we can un-elect our members on the SBOE. And perhaps this really is the answer - there are those who don't want the responsibility for textbook review responsible to "the people". They want this important process to be left to the "experts" who profess as fact, that which has not been proven, and as acceptable, that which does not reflect the culture or mores of the majority of our society. Call your elected officials today. Tell them to kill the bill that will kill taxpayers and parents roles in textbook selection. Click Here Commentary on HB 4 Terri Leo State Board of Education District #6 23516 Twin Oaks Drive Spring, Texas 77389 281-257-0836 "Surrendering Our School Children to Cyberspace" During the past six decades, the State Board of Education (SBOE) has been a responsible steward of the state's textbooks and instructional materials. Now, if passed by the 79th Legislature, HB 4 would dramatically and detrimentally change the SBOE’s authority over the textbook/instructional materials review process. The public would basically be surrendering their children to writers and publishers who dwell in cyberspace! With the high expectations that the Legislature and the SBOE have set for student academic performance in Texas, the SBOE should provide more quality control over instructional materials, not less. HB 4 would result in no quality control by the SBOE and places authority over instructional materials in the hands of unelected and unknown entities who may live in other parts of the country or even in other parts of the world. To whom would the citizens of Texas take their concerns if they did not like some particular agenda which surfaced in their children's textbooks? HB 4 states that publishers could submit instructional materials "at any time." Teachers, however, only have time for participation in the state instructional materials review process in the summer! If HB 4 is allowed to stand, publishers could time their submissions in such a way that teacher input into the textbook evaluation process would be almost completely excluded. In addition, the state textbook review process under HB 4 would be less efficient because costs for extra staff to conduct frequent reviews of instructional materials would increase at the same time that careful scrutiny of all materials would decline. HB 4 would cause the state textbook approvals to be out of sync with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) revisions. At present the TEKS revision process drives the state instructional materials adoption cycle, a sound approach to ensure clear and consistent alignment of instructional objectives and curriculum. Disrupting that synergy between TEKS expectations and content standards would negatively affect TAKS scores and school ratings. Currently, publishers must furnish actual samples of approved instructional materials which are up for local adoption. With the passage of HB 4, publishers would have to provide only a description of their materials -- in other words, give their sales pitch! School districts would not really get to see the materials themselves until after the materials were adopted. Most errors in textbooks are found by citizens who have the opportunity to review the actual textbooks. Thousands of errors have been found and corrected during the review process. According to HB 4, publishers are not required to submit instructional materials at all. Why would a publisher want to face public scrutiny if they are not required to do so? The bill states that the “Agency” should "encourage alignment with the curriculum." If materials are to be paid for with state dollars, they should be required to meet all the TEKS or over 50% as under current law. Any instructional materials which meet less than 50% of the TEKS should be forced to rework their submissions and then should be listed as conforming or nonconforming just as is presently required of the basal products. "Encourage" is a long way from "requiring." HB 4 provides only for Texas Education Agency input into the review process with no statutory SBOE role in the fact-finding phase before the final vote. Without these revisions, there is no provision for democratic oversight by the elected SBOE of the instructional materials evaluation process. Most importantly, if HB4 were to become law, Texas would basically lose the state adoption and review process. Currently the publishers come to Texas to write the books for the rest of the nation. If HB 4 becomes law, New York and California will then be deciding what Texas school children will be reading. Lastly, Texans do not want outside agents who may have distinct social agendas coming into our schools and stealing the minds of our Texas children. HB 4 sets up the possibility that this could happen because it permits limited or no oversight of school instructional materials. As elected officials, we have a responsibility to protect innocent school children from those who would like free reign over what is taught to our Texas children. HB 4 must be held up to careful and diligent public scrutiny. Back to Legislation |