ustxtxb_obs_2010_06_11_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

Don McLeroy meets the press PHOTO BY ABBY RAPOPORT READ the list of new science standards at tx1o.com/TEKS mblazonerl The Associated Press on the new “Coyote Special” edition of the Strum, Ruger & Co. .380-caliber pistol Rick Perry says he used to kill a coyote in February. “For Sale to Texans Only.” Outside of “Coyote Special” box “I’m just shooting from the hip here, but I’d say it’s a pretty good little gun.” Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger to The Austin American-Statesman “Our governor can outshoot your governor. That’s what I like to tell people from out of state.” McBride Guns salesman George Gibbons to MSNBC FOR THE LATEST political analysis, read Bob Moser’s Purple Texas at www.texasobserver.org/purpletexas with crime rates. Throughout the master planning process, we have been contacting lots of different departments throughout the city in trying to coordinate their efforts with ours.” In effect, the police are helping clear the way for gentrification. By the time the officers dropped me back at the station around 1 a.m., they had walked through seven bars and pool halls, stopped by a taco trailer for dinner, and intended to visit at least four more nightspots. The officers had issued a few jaywalking citations, made a cocaine arrest, and received a report of one UFO sighting. They still had three hours to go. ROBERT GREEN STATE BOARD OF EXCUSES Underbooked THE TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION’S THREE-DAY showdown in May over social studies standards attracted reporters from across the country, from The New York Times to Fox News. Accounts focused on the fiery, often entertaining back-and-forth over which his torical figures to include: the Dolores Huertas or the Phyllis Schlaflys? After the final votes on the new standards \(Huerta packed up, onlookers drained from the roomand the board voted to postpone buying the new science textbooks it spent much of 2008 and 2009 debating. The argument over science curriculum centered on whether to require that students learn the “strengths and weaknesses” of the theory of evolution. In the end, social conservatives lost that struggle; of the many changes made to the curriculum, one of their few successes requires biology teachers to explain “any data of sudden appearance” in the fossil recordproof, supposedly, of evolution’s fallibility. They also succeeded in requiring students to “distinguish between scientific hypotheses and scientific theories.” Now it appears that Texas kids will have to glean those points from supplementary materials rather than new textbooks that were supposed to arrive in the fall. The state normally replaces textbooks on a rotating basis every 10 years. With Texas facing a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion in 2011, the money isn’t going to be there. Textbooks covering the new science standards would have cost $400 million, and the Legislature is already expecting a bill of $888 million for textbooks already ordered. In the 2011-12 school year, the state will begin standardized, end-of-course exams for high-schoolers, and students will be expected to have mastered the new science standards. So board members crossed their collective fingers that the Legislature would approve money for an unorthodox plan: a supplement covering the new standards as a stopgap. The Texas Education Agency had proposed to provide science supplements for high schools only at a cost of about $17 million. Instead, board members approved supplements for science classes from fifth grade through high school. They have no idea how much the supplements will cost. It’ll be a couple of years before the state has to pay for new social studies textbooks, scheduled to arrive in fall 2013. ABBY RAPOPORT 4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG