SBOE Irks Bill White and the Media

Democratic nominee for Texas Governor, Bill White, has joined the liberal media in attacking the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) for its recent actions in bringing social studies standards back in balance. In fact, he is blaming Governor Perry and calling on his supporters to write Perry and complain about Thomas Jefferson being removed from the World History standards.

However, even the Houston Chronicle, no bastion of conservatism, points out that this allegation “misses the mark.” The SBOE did remove Jefferson from the world history standards, but he remains in Grade 5 and Grade 8 standards and also in high school U.S. history standards. The Chronicle quotes a board member who explains, “It’s just an issue of being germane. It was world history, and it was a list of political philosophers (from which Jefferson was removed). He’s mentioned in U.S. history and in government where you talk about the Founding Fathers and political philosophers.”

While conservative commentators are calling the actions by the SBOE a victory for balance and common sense and a much needed response to the liberal control of public education standards by leftist academics, the liberals in the media – and the Democrats – continue to try to paint the actions of the SBOE as those of a right wing extremists, even though the votes were by a margin of 10 or 11 votes.

This is just one more example that elections matter and voting is a responsibility that we should not take lightly or eschew. Whether you agree or disagree with what the SBOE has done on these issues, they were elected by the voters and they have the authority to make those decisions. Lastly, it probably tells us a little about Bill White too.