SBOE Fails Texas Students Again

The Texas State Board of Education has once again failed the students of this state. Considering what they have done to put religion in the state's science classes and right-wing politics in the history and government curriculums, this shouldn't have surprised anyone. The SBOE seems determined to make sure Texas students can't compete with students from other states and countries -- and that's sad in this world that increasingly demands a good education to survive in the modern workforce.

This time it's mathematics. The SBOE has just adopted new standards for the teaching of math at all grade levels from kindergarten through 12th grade. The new standards for kindergarten through 8th grade will go into effect in 2014, and the new standards for 9th through 12th grades will start the next year (2015).

So, what is wrong with what the SBOE has done? Simple. The new standards they approved do NOT come up to the national standards -- developed by teachers, school administrators, and math experts, and adopted by 45 other states. Texas, and four other states, adopted standards that fall short of what is required of students in most other states (and countries).

Why would they do this? Because the right-wing ideologues on the SBOE are terrified of the word "national". Somehow, they have convinced themselves that adopting standards set nationally would mean the state is giving up control over its own schools. That idea is ludicrous, of course. Agreeing to national standards has nothing to do with control of the state's schools. It simply means Texas students will have to meet a more rigorous standard (and that is a good thing).

Even the conservative Texas Association of Business thinks the new math standards are not strict enough. They say it will hurt the ability of Texas students to compete after graduation, and they are right. If the SBOE didn't want to adopt the national standards, why didn't they adopt standards that exceeded the national standards? It would have made more sense to do that than to fail to at least equal national standards.

This is the kind of idiocy that happens when you turn education over to political ideologues instead of educators.