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Ed board race a study in viewpoints
  
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By NATALIE TORENTINOS
This is an election year when the top of the ballot will naturally receive the most attention and scrutiny, but voters should take notice of down-ballot races, because they're more important and far-reaching than one might think.
The Texas State Board of Education, for example, oversees the process that helps establish curriculum standards, and approves textbooks used throughout the state.
In other words, board members dictate what kind of education children will have for years to come.
This year’s race is a particularly competitive one, with STOB District 7 incumbent David Bradley and Democratic opponent Laura Ewing, a former Friendswood City Council member, who hold very different views on education issues.
Bradley, an insurance agent and real estate developer, was first elected to the State Board of Education in 1996. His district represents Chambers, Galveston, and Jefferson Counties, as well as parts of Brazoria and Harris Counties.
During his tenure he served on the Committee for School Finance/Permanent School Fund and the Committee on Planning, and currently serves on the Committee on School initiatives.
Bradley is focused mainly on two issues: changing attitudes toward parental responsibility; and a “return to basics” when it comes to curriculum standards, including the teaching of phonics, or the connection of sounds with English letters or groups of letters.
“SAT scores have been steadily declining,” he said. “There is a decline in student skills. We need to introduce phonics back into the reading books with spelling and punctuation. We have not taught grammar in the past few decades.
“We rejected a second grade math book that didn’t require students to memorize multiplication tables. We don’t require kids to memorize things anymore. I’m sorry, but education is hard work.”
The board approved a new English Language Arts Curriculum standards this year, and Bradley said he believes it’s an improvement over previous English class guidelines because of the emphasis on punctuation and spelling.
The board approves Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for various subjects and subsequently send out proclamations to textbook publishers who put those standards to use.
Ewing said she was not satisfied with the new English Language guidelines, saying they left out comprehension standards.
“If kids can pronounce a word and know where to put the commas, they also need to understand what the meaning is,” she said.
As someone who has spent 24 years teaching in Pearland, Houston, Fort Bend, Clear Creek, Spring and Cypress Fairbanks, and 10 years as a curriculum specialist in Pearland, Ewing believes she has ample experience to make judgments on curriculum standards.
“I have a good understanding of how things work on a campus and a central office level,” she said.
Ewing emphasized that students must be prepared for the technology age since the majority of careers students will hold in the future “have not been created yet.”
“We must prepare students who are not college-bound. We must provide career and technology courses that count towards satisfying graduation requirements. Let them count towards math and science courses.”
Science curricula, it turns out, will be reexamined this coming term. According to Bradley and the STOE website, the current curriculum in biology TEKS says a student is required to analyze the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories.
One area of controversy, however, is evolution – and whether that’s considered a theory subject to questioning. Bradley maintains that the issue is blown out of proportion.
“Evolution is a theory,” he said. “You analyze and discover its strengths and weaknesses. That snippet – there’s been an effort by a science coalition to remove it.”
Ewing said she would not include the “strengths and weaknesses” wording.
“Most people do not understand the definition of evolution. It’s the study of how organisms change over time. One aspect of the theory that humans evolved from apes. That’s only one small aspect. Our biology books don’t teach that lesson.
“I’m a Christian, I believe in creation. In my mind, in my faith, there is no disconnect between creation and evolution. But I shudder to think about what would go into textbooks about creation. I want creation to be studied in a place of worship.”
Bilingual education is another point of sharp differences between the two candidates. Bradley is adamantly opposed to instruction in anything but English, except when students choose language electives in higher grades.
“It does [Spanish-speakers] a disservice. The outcry is we need to teach in Spanish. You don’t see Asians asking for that.”
Bradley said he is working on an initiative regarding the constitutionality of offering bilingual education to students entering the school system, calling it discriminatory.
Ewing said the purpose of bilingual education is to help students learn the content of lessons while learning English.
“What if I paid to take a class in Germany and they gave me a book all in German and the instructor only speaks German? I might learn it eventually, but be slow to get the content.”
In addition to the aforementioned education issues, Ewing considered Bradley’s residence a subject to scrutiny, as she questioned whether it was legal for him to run when he filed for a homestead exemption in a county outside of the district.
“It is legal to own more than one home in Texas,” Bradley responded. “My office in Beaumont has a townhouse on top of it, and that’s my legal residence. It’s where I file taxes and where I have my voter registration.”
Bradley said he filed a homestead exemption for his second home in Jasper County for legal protection, not a declaration of residence.
“It was looked at by the Texas Secretary of State and the Attorney General,” he said.
They say:
DAVID BRADLEY: ‘We rejected a second grade math book that didn’t require students to memorize multiplication tables. We don’t require kids to memorize things anymore. I’m sorry, but education is hard work.’
LAURA EWING: ‘We must prepare students who are not college-bound. We must provide career and technology courses that count towards satisfying graduation requirements.’
The Texas State Board of Education, for example, oversees the process that helps establish curriculum standards, and approves textbooks used throughout the state.
In other words, board members dictate what kind of education children will have for years to come.
This year’s race is a particularly competitive one, with STOB District 7 incumbent David Bradley and Democratic opponent Laura Ewing, a former Friendswood City Council member, who hold very different views on education issues.
Bradley, an insurance agent and real estate developer, was first elected to the State Board of Education in 1996. His district represents Chambers, Galveston, and Jefferson Counties, as well as parts of Brazoria and Harris Counties.
During his tenure he served on the Committee for School Finance/Permanent School Fund and the Committee on Planning, and currently serves on the Committee on School initiatives.
Bradley is focused mainly on two issues: changing attitudes toward parental responsibility; and a “return to basics” when it comes to curriculum standards, including the teaching of phonics, or the connection of sounds with English letters or groups of letters.
“SAT scores have been steadily declining,” he said. “There is a decline in student skills. We need to introduce phonics back into the reading books with spelling and punctuation. We have not taught grammar in the past few decades.
“We rejected a second grade math book that didn’t require students to memorize multiplication tables. We don’t require kids to memorize things anymore. I’m sorry, but education is hard work.”
The board approved a new English Language Arts Curriculum standards this year, and Bradley said he believes it’s an improvement over previous English class guidelines because of the emphasis on punctuation and spelling.
The board approves Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for various subjects and subsequently send out proclamations to textbook publishers who put those standards to use.
Ewing said she was not satisfied with the new English Language guidelines, saying they left out comprehension standards.
“If kids can pronounce a word and know where to put the commas, they also need to understand what the meaning is,” she said.
As someone who has spent 24 years teaching in Pearland, Houston, Fort Bend, Clear Creek, Spring and Cypress Fairbanks, and 10 years as a curriculum specialist in Pearland, Ewing believes she has ample experience to make judgments on curriculum standards.
“I have a good understanding of how things work on a campus and a central office level,” she said.
Ewing emphasized that students must be prepared for the technology age since the majority of careers students will hold in the future “have not been created yet.”
“We must prepare students who are not college-bound. We must provide career and technology courses that count towards satisfying graduation requirements. Let them count towards math and science courses.”
Science curricula, it turns out, will be reexamined this coming term. According to Bradley and the STOE website, the current curriculum in biology TEKS says a student is required to analyze the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories.
One area of controversy, however, is evolution – and whether that’s considered a theory subject to questioning. Bradley maintains that the issue is blown out of proportion.
“Evolution is a theory,” he said. “You analyze and discover its strengths and weaknesses. That snippet – there’s been an effort by a science coalition to remove it.”
Ewing said she would not include the “strengths and weaknesses” wording.
“Most people do not understand the definition of evolution. It’s the study of how organisms change over time. One aspect of the theory that humans evolved from apes. That’s only one small aspect. Our biology books don’t teach that lesson.
“I’m a Christian, I believe in creation. In my mind, in my faith, there is no disconnect between creation and evolution. But I shudder to think about what would go into textbooks about creation. I want creation to be studied in a place of worship.”
Bilingual education is another point of sharp differences between the two candidates. Bradley is adamantly opposed to instruction in anything but English, except when students choose language electives in higher grades.
“It does [Spanish-speakers] a disservice. The outcry is we need to teach in Spanish. You don’t see Asians asking for that.”
Bradley said he is working on an initiative regarding the constitutionality of offering bilingual education to students entering the school system, calling it discriminatory.
Ewing said the purpose of bilingual education is to help students learn the content of lessons while learning English.
“What if I paid to take a class in Germany and they gave me a book all in German and the instructor only speaks German? I might learn it eventually, but be slow to get the content.”
In addition to the aforementioned education issues, Ewing considered Bradley’s residence a subject to scrutiny, as she questioned whether it was legal for him to run when he filed for a homestead exemption in a county outside of the district.
“It is legal to own more than one home in Texas,” Bradley responded. “My office in Beaumont has a townhouse on top of it, and that’s my legal residence. It’s where I file taxes and where I have my voter registration.”
Bradley said he filed a homestead exemption for his second home in Jasper County for legal protection, not a declaration of residence.
“It was looked at by the Texas Secretary of State and the Attorney General,” he said.
They say:
DAVID BRADLEY: ‘We rejected a second grade math book that didn’t require students to memorize multiplication tables. We don’t require kids to memorize things anymore. I’m sorry, but education is hard work.’
LAURA EWING: ‘We must prepare students who are not college-bound. We must provide career and technology courses that count towards satisfying graduation requirements.’
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Bettie Blue wrote on Oct 24, 2008 4:12 PM: