Texas State Board of Education; Euthanasia in Canada
And How to Take Action for Education in Texas
The Texas SBOE raised a lot of hackles over the last several days with their new TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) proposal, revising social studies and civics teaching guidelines to include ‘woke’ items including Critical Race Theory, changing the history of slavery in America, and inappropriate LGBTQ materials. The State Board of Education did not request an overhaul, and no cost benefit analysis has been provided to SBOE members. It appears un-elected bureaucrats who work under Texas Education Association appointed Commissioner Mike Morath, and un-elected work groups with their own agendas wrote the proposals. Some of the proposed revisions are against Texas law. Here are two Texas Scorecard articles for more details: 1) Texas State Board of Education to ‘Radically’ Change Social Studies, and 2) New Social Studies Standards to Be Considered by the State Board of Education.
Pratt on Texas had this to say.
Our Lone Star story of the day: Don’t buy the dismissive stories from the Leftist media, there are serious problems at the State Board of Education related to the revamp of Texas public school social studies (history) curriculum. Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Greg Sindelar and Dr. Ben Carson write: Texas State Board of Education Should Give TEKS Draft a Failing Grade. The Texan points out many of the flaws with the proposed standards in a story headlined: Proposed Texas K-12 Social Studies Standards Accused of Violating State’s CRT Ban.
The SBOE voted for a delay, so the issue is only temporarily tabled. Stay informed and engaged.
State Board of Education Delays ‘Woke’ Social Studies in Early Victory, But It’s Not Over Yet.
Austin, TX – Last night, the Texas State Board of Education made a preliminary vote to stop the review and revision process on the Social Studies standards, also known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. This is great news because this means that efforts to delete “In God We Trust” from U.S. History have been stopped! Additionally, efforts to continue with the drafts of the ethnic studies courses with Critical Race Theory were stopped as well.
However, the State Board of Education must finalize these votes on Friday, September 2. Please contact your SBOE member and tell them to vote “yes” for the two-year delay of the Social Studies revision and vote “yes” on not moving forward with the ethnic studies drafts. We are asking those in SBOE member Will Hickman's district to urge him to vote "yes" since he voted against delay in the preliminary vote.
Thanks to your emails, letters, and public testimony, YOU, along with work of our Texas Values team, were able to stop drafts for the Social Studies standards that would have been bad for public school students. Below are some of the things you were able to stop:
- Many references to religion have been removed including the national motto “In God We Trust” and Moses.
- References to “Pride” week, sexual orientation, and the advocacy group for LGBT rights were in several places in the drafts of the Social Studies standards.
- A standard on teaching high school students how to be good citizens would have been struck.
Take action - Please reach out to your SBOE member and the others listed below. Tell them - in your own words please…
Thank you for your support of Mrs. Pam Little’s resolution on Tue Aug 30th at the SBOE Committee meeting.
Considering the testimonies, I urge that, on Friday Sep. 2, you VOTE YES ONLY to Updated TEKS based on SB3 requirements in civics. I urge that you APPROVE TO DELAY social studies rewrite/ revision /and adoption until 2025. And VOTE NO! TO TEKS REWRITE/CONTENT proposed by unelected groups.
sboesupport@tea.texas.gov; audrey.young@tea.texas.gov; pat.hardy.1109@gmail.com; pam.little@tea.texas.gov; smelton51@gmail.com; georgina.perez@tea.texas.gov; rubencortezfortexas@gmail.com; marisa.perez@tea.texas.gov; sboesupport@tea.texas.gov; rebecca.bellmetereau@tea.texas.gov; will.hickman@tea.texas.gov; matt.robinson@tea.texas.gov; ellisSBOE@gmail.com; tom@maynardfortexas.com; jay.johnson@tea.texas.gov;
Whatever your thoughts on euthanasia (or assisted suicide), this seems to be taking it too far. When euthanasia becomes the sixth leading cause of death in your country, perhaps it is time to rethink the real value of “free” healthcare. Canada’s Euthanasia Policies Under Scrutiny As Reports Surface Of Euthanizing A Man For “Hearing Loss”.
From the Daily Signal, Canada Is Euthanizing Its Sick and Poor. Welcome to World of Government Health Care. This is an excerpt:
Many progressives tout Canada’s socialized health care system as something America should emulate, claiming government-run health care is more humane. But it seems Canadian officials are more interested in urging doctors to help patients to kill themselves than to treat them.
America’s neighbor to the north has some of the most permissive euthanasia laws in the world. Canada’s medical assistance in dying laws allow almost anyone who can claim some form of hardship or disability to receive physician-assisted suicide, regardless of how minor those disabilities might be.
Until next time…
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Or email me, and let’s have a problem-solving conversation. I welcome ‘letters to the editor’ type emails and may publish yours. I hope we can create a caucus with positive, back-to-the-founders’-dream-for-America results. Have a topic you want to know more about?
Some housekeeping…
Going forward, you may need to check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If the newsletter isn’t in your spam folder either, you should look in the Promotions tab.
You can always see everything on the website, ellenleyrer.substack.com.
Thanks again for reading! I’m glad you’re here!