Perry to Pick SBOE Chair

Let's have another one, just like the other one

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Betsy Oney suggests Gov. Rick Perry is facing a dilemma in picking a new chairman for the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE). His last nominee, Don McLeroy, failed to win Senate confirmation, so Perry must pick another to serve until the next legislative session in 2011.

What got McLeroy into trouble was that he was the leader of a faction of seven SBOE members who represented the religious right who, in Oney's words, "see benefit in turning public education into religious education at taxpayer expense. They see benefit in keeping critical thinking out of the classroom."

If Perry picks another member of that faction to serve as chairman, the politicization of the SBOE will continue. If he goes with one of the two moderate Republicans on the SBOE, the religious right may turn against Perry in his campaign for governor. Oney presents this as a dilemma for Perry. Oney calls it, "Money and ideology vs. public's interest."

But Oney never spells out why Perry would find that decision to be a dilemma. Was it a dilemma two years ago when he chose McLeroy? Why does she think Perry would now want a change from the McLeroy era? She says the McLeroy-led SBOE "listened to ideology instead of experts and were intent on imposing an antiquated education system on Texas children." Right. And that's probably what Perry wants to see continue. So, expect him to name as new chair of the SBOE, not the moderate Pat Hardy of Fort Worth or Bob Craig of Lubbock, whom Oney is pushing, but one of the other members from the radical faction that McLeroy has led. And expect Texas education to continue its backward trajectory for at least another two years.