The Texas Observer

If you blinked you probably missed it last night. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Committee tabled consideration until January of the Institute for Creation Research’s request to grant degrees in Texas.

Commissioners don’t exactly seem eager to take this on. When asked if the commissioners wanted the subject read out at the meeting, they mumbled “no thanks” and the subject was tabled until the next board meeting on January 24th.

“It would seem odd for a state agency to certify a science degree at an institution that doesn’t teach science,” says Dan Quinn, Communications director at Texas Freedom Network.

Odd indeed, but then again, this is Texas.

Yesterday’s meeting of the State Board of Education, those creationist monkeys, ended not with a bang but a whimper. The most controversial agenda item - hiring an outside consultant to manage the development and writing of new curriculum standards for the state - was tabled after several board members expressed a desire to hold off on a decision until January. Science defenders breathed a collective sigh of relief. They were worried that the consultant could be a back door strategy by anti-evolution board members to short-circuit the input of real science educators.

“The process is critical because if the process is out of whack then the end product may not be as rigorous as we would like,” Kathy Miller, president of Texas Freedom Network, told the 15-member elected board. That’s Miller’s nice way of saying that a rigged process will mean crappy science textbooks. Steven Schafersman, of Midland-based Texas Citizens for Science, said the proposal as written “contains all sorts of red flags,” including ambiguity as to how, and who, would select the consultant and whether he or she would have veto power over the expert’s recommendations.

Texas defenders of science are in heightened vigilance mode because the board will spend 2008 overhauling the state’s curriculum standards. That means we’re likely to have to endure another pique of anti-evolution fervor from the creationists on the board, led by new chairman Don McLeroy, a fundamentalist Christian and Republican who has boldly declared that he does not share “a common ancestor with a tree.” (I’m sure the tree feels the same way.)

The last time the board touched the science standards was in 2003. At that time creationist activists and their board allies tried (unsuccessfully) to strip the science of evolution and the chemical origins of life from biology textbooks. A majority of the board, however, have pledged to keep “intelligent design” out of the classroom this go-around. A more likely approach for the die-hards would be to ramp up their pseudo-scientific attacks on the supposed holes in evolutionary theory. H.L. Mencken once wrote that “democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” We shall see soon enough if the monkeys are still in charge at the Texas board of education.

Earlier this week, the Chronicle of Higher Education issued a report on just how stinking rich the presidents and provosts of America’s universities are becoming thanks to the stupendous six-figure salaries and luxurious extras showered upon them by our institutions of higher learning.

And of course it’s no surprise that the top dogs at Texas’ public universities rank right up there when it comes to carting home the cash.

While students often work for minimum wage — taking 12- and 15-hour course loads — and borrow thousands upon thousands just to pay the skyrocketing tuition, these head honchos rake it in.

According to the report: ” … the life for many college presidents is in some ways like that of members of Congress. Many college leaders enjoy free housing and cars, free travel and — since many meals are work-related — free food, too. So how do they spend their out-sized salaries? Many make large contributions to the institutions that employ them, while others splurge on getaway cabins or private planes.

Private planes?

According to the report, University of Texas System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof’s total compensation is $742,209 (plus a ‘house’). Michael D. McKinney, the head of the Texas A&M University System, receives compensation totalling $638,200. And Bill Powers, the lowly president of the University of Texas at Austin, raked in a total compensation package in 2006-2007 worth $599,780.

On top of these bewildering figures, the AP reported that tuition at the University of Texas may be going up:

The Tuition Policy Advisory Committee has recommended that the school hike tuition by an average of $318 per semester — starting next fall. The figure would rise an additional $303 for the 2009 fall semester.

The hike, which will have to be approved by the plutocrats that have been appointed to the UT Board of Regents by Gov. Rick “My Mansion Away From The Mansion” Perry, will surely be approved, and estimates put the current cost of attending UT at nearly $4,500 a semester.

Now, higher education used to be strictly for the privileged. Are we, or are not, moving backward?

You may have evolved from a monkey, but Rick Perry sure didn’t! Our enlightened Guv - global warming denier, former Aggie Yell Leader, and Ted Nugent fan - has been on the record for years as a believer in “Intelligent Design,” the hottest new version of Creationism. When Perry was running for re-election last year a spokesman said that while the Governor was in favor of teaching ID in Texas classrooms “much as the theory of evolution is now taught,” he was not pushing for a statewide curriculum change.

But Perry has found a proxy to carry out his anti-evolution monkey business. In this case it’s Don McLeroy, the Gov’s paleocon pick, announced July 17, for Chairman of the State Board of Education, the 15-member organization that oversees the state’s curriculum. McLeroy, a dentist and Republican from Bryan, is a member of the SBOE’s religious right faction, which has feuded repeatedly with moderate Republicans and Democrats.

An elected member of the SBOE since 1998, McLeroy has cast votes to weaken the teaching of evolution in biology textbooks, approve abstinence-only health textbooks, and ban an environmental science textbook that spent too much time discussing global warming and endangered species, according to the Texas Freedom Network.

Now as chairman, McLeroy will oversee the first overhaul of science curriculum standards in Texas since 2003. Get ready to redo the Scopes Trial, folks.

Mainstream media coverage of McLeroy’s appointment has been both dull and timid, failing to examine what he actually believes. Understanding how his faith informs his politics is important because while this guy may be an amiable small-town dentist, he’s also in a position to decide what thousands and thousands of Texas schoolchildren will be taught. (Not only that, but due to the sheer size of the state, Texas - along with Florida and California - largely determines what textbooks the rest of the country uses.)

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God bless the poor souls who try to quantify whether the Texas Legislature is friendly to poor kids. A Houston nonprofit recently compiled a legislative scorecard on children’s issues, and it seems the task proved too ugly to complete.

Children at Risk is a nonprofit devoted to improving the lives of kids in Houston and around the state through “research, education and influencing public policy.” In addition to encouraging the federal government to expand SCHIP, the center just released its legislative report card that grades each member of the high-profile Houston delegation based on how they voted for children’s issues. (The center’s full 80th Session wrap-up is here.)

Overall, Children at Risk gave the entire Legislature a grade of C+.

We were encouraged by the legislature’s prioritizations of certain children’s issues such as: CHIP reform, increased funding for early childhood education and dropout prevention programs, and reform of the Texas Youth Commission. However, these victories for children were coupled with a number of defeats. The 80th Legislative Session failed to pass legislation on the following important issues: clear and transparent methodology to calculate high school graduation rates, parity for mental health services, reform of alternative education programs, and environmental reform to improve Texas’ air quality.

The grading criteria was based on their tracking of several categories of legislation: education, physical and mental health, human trafficking, child welfare, juvenile justice, and the environment.

Overall, the Houston delegation got a B. Grading individual legislators apparently proved problematic, especially if you’re uncomfortable saying some lawmakers voted against kids. Grades for each Houston lawmaker are here (along with the grading methodology), and if you skim that list, it sure seems like Houston knocked it out of the park this session — A’s and B’s all down the line. Except for all those curious I’s.

Turns out, rather than grade the House Republicans who didn’t support bills Children at Risk thought were important, the organization gave them a gentleman’s Incomplete — the same grade as the legitimately absent Sen. Mario Gallegos. Every I is explained by a form letter: “CHILDREN AT RISK does not believe that anyone would intentionally ignore the needs of our children. Although Rep.Talton did not vote favorably on all the bills we prioritized, most notably the CHIP reform bill, we are confident that by working more closely with him in the future we can encourage Talton to become a strong advocate for children.”

Not sure what the point of handing out a report card is if you don’t distinguish between a C and an F, but for what it’s worth here’s a list of the I’s (excluding Gallegos): Reps. Bill Callegari, Beverly Woolley, Charlie Howard, Patricia Harless, Joe Crabb, Gary Elkins, and Robert Talton.

Receiving A’s: Sen. John Whitmire, Reps. Garnet Coleman, John Davis, Scott Hochberg, Rick Noriega, Sylvester Turner, and Borris Miles.

The last bill brought up on the House calendar Tuesday night would have expanded the use of ‘Ogden bonds’ deisgnated for road construction. Instead, Democrats killed it the best way they know how: they just kept talking about it. By midnight, the proposal was an ex-bill.

That was the second time Tuesday that the House struck down a lending scheme created by Sen. Steve Ogden.

The Senate finance chair surprised Democrats earlier this month, by amending the top 10 percent rule reform bill with a $1500 college grant for every student in the upper tenth of their graduating class. When SB 101 landed in the House Higher Education Committee, though, chairwoman Geanie Morrison stripped it like a hot Miata in a chop shop, cutting the ‘Ogden grants’ and other Senate compromises, so the House could re-amend it just the way they wanted.

During floor debate on the bill Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego offered an amendment to re-insert the grants, but that didn’t fly. (Other Senate measures, including a provision to sunset the bill’s changes in 2015, found their way back on board.) The bill passed out of the House on a tight 77-67 vote Wednesday afternoon, without the scholarships, and will face off against the Senate version in conference.

Across the rotunda, Senators returned the favor by amending the Ogden grants back onto another Morrison education bill Wednesday. Sen. Royce West brought the amendment this time, an exact replication of Ogden’s original proposal. The amendment passed 31-0, setting up the bill for another conference committee showdown.

The $25 million it takes to fund the Ogden grants would come out of general revenue money — not at the expense of college grant programs that are already in place. The proposal would help make college more affordable, at a time when lawmakers have done nothing to rein in state universities’ ballooning tuition.

Still, Morrison says she doesn’t like the idea of adding a new scholarship program when the state’s college grant funds are already underfunded. “I’d hate to have us start another scholarship program when we have a need-based program we haven’t fully funded,” Morrison told the Observer.

Even though Ogden made it clear, when he brought his original amendment, that his proposal wasn’t going to take money away from existing need-based grants, Morrison isn’t convinced. “It’s still money,” she said.

Rep. Warren Chisum’s Bible class bill passed the Senate today with just two dissenting votes, and without any of the changes advocated by the religious right. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Craig Estes, had offered a floor amendment, but retracted it in the name of time, facing a lengthy debate with Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa.

The amendment would have raised the number of students required for a school to offer an elective Bible class from 15 to 20, at the request of Texas Education Agency, Estes said. Oh and by the way, Estes added that it would have eliminated an inconsistency in the House version of the bill, which says schools “may” offer the course, then adds the course to a list of electives the schools “shall” offer. Estes’ amendment would have simply smoothed out that wrinkle by changing the first “may” to “shall” — in effect, requiring school districts to offer the course if enough students were interested.

Rep. Scott Hochberg – who amended Chisum’s bill in committee to make it more moderate – says there isn’t actually any conflict in the way the bill is written. Hochberg says the list of elective courses has been interpreted as what he calls a “restaurant menu” districts can choose from, not a list of strictly required courses. Because the bill says “school districts may” offer the Bible course, the intent of the law is clear, Hochberg says.

On the Senate floor, Hinojosa said he was uncomfortable with the mandatory nature and the Bible language of the legislation. “The bill singles out one religion over another,” he said. Later he said, “You’re not stating correctly what you’re doing here.”

Estes responded, “This bill has been carefully crafted to not be a religious bill. It’s an academic bill.”

Despite Christian right efforts, the Senate did not remove the safeguards added to the bill by the House Public Education committee, such as teacher training, a textbook other than the Bible, and attorney general-approved curriculum standards.