Bell Plans to Rein In Extremist SBOE

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By Amy Smith, Austin Chronicle

Democratic candidate for governor Chris Bell introduced a four-point plan Wednesday that seeks to bring some sanity to the school textbook debate.

Bell vowed to block the ideologically driven agenda of the State Board of Education by appointing a watchdog chair over the SBOE, installing a Texas education commissioner committed to "removing politics from our classrooms," and creating a bipartisan task force to make recommendations for reforming the textbook adoption process.

Additionally, Bell said he would require qualified professionals to review the textbooks for accuracy. Bell laid out his proposal during a roundtable discussion with educators and activists at his campaign headquarters in Southwest Austin.
"The State Board of Education is allowing pressure from religious political extremists to govern public policy in a way that will affect the health and well-being of our Texas kids."

The roundtable group, which included UT classics professor Andrew Riggsby and family-planning advocate Peggy Romberg, expressed its concerns about the state board's hard shift to the right on matters relating to health, sex education, science, and, of course, homosexuality.

The board is expected to gain two additional right-wing candidates after the November elections. The two were recruited by SBOE member Terri Leo of Spring, who is the most outspoken board member.

To stem the tide of extremists on the board, Romberg suggested drawing more public attention to SBOE campaign races, down-ballot slots that typically generate little notice, thus allowing right-wing candidates to "slip in."

The board, Romberg said, "is allowing pressure from religious political extremists to govern public policy in a way that will affect the health and well-being of our Texas kids."

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