Pray that Texas Governor Perry Will Veto HB 4294

There is a struggle in Texas right now over who will oversee education. The blocking of the reappointment of Chairman Don McElroy of the State Board of Education by liberal senators in the state legislature and the present attempt to strip the SBOE of authority (and thus citizens of input into that properly elected body) are the result of efforts by the media, egged on by organizations who are dedicated to keeping evolution in the science classroom and creationism out. Why do organizations such as the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network put so much time, effort, and money into this state and this particular fight? Any person or organization whose purpose is to ensure accuracy and give students a good education—enabling them to think on their own—weakens evolution’s hold on the mind of students and they know it. They also know that Texas is key to educational issues in the rest of the nation.

So how does this struggle in Texas affect the rest of the nation’s public school children? Texas and California are the two most influential states for education in the United States. California leads in being the first to push issues like homosexual teaching into public school curriculum (next year introducing this even for kindergarteners without recourse for objecting parents). Texas leads in educational accuracy. Texas’s current textbook adoption process results in more accurate and educationally excellent materials. Many states—and possibly yours—schedule their textbook adoption for the year following the Lone Star State’s because they realize that many factual errors in new educational material will be caught and corrected during this time. Their work keeps educational publishers accountable (each uncorrected error accrues a fine) and saves all states the time and money (months of analysis per textbook and digitalized materials by trained eyes) to ferret out inaccuracies and weaknesses of pedagogy.

Current Situation: HB 4294—which would place digitalized textbooks in Texas classrooms, bypassing the public hearings and careful scrutiny of the SBOE textbook adoption process—has been sent to Governor Perry’s desk. This would effectively end the benefits given not only Texas, but all states, of accountability for publishers and the impetus for them to correct errors. Help him see the influence of Texas in education issues nationally and ask on behalf of yours to continue this process of excellence.

Take Action
Pray for this issue and urge Governor Rick Perry to veto the measure of HB 4294. Ask him to maintain his state’s role as leader in textbook excellence for the sake of Texas and all states.