Tagged: State Board of Education

After heated political pressure that included proposed legislation this session, the group running the online lesson provider CSCOPE has canceled their services with the state. 

According to the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative, 877 Texas school districts use the online lesion plan known as CSCOPE. 

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said there have been problems with the content provided in the CSCOPE lesson plans since their introduction:

Is CSCOPE an education resource designed to help struggling school districts? Or is it a vast anti-American conspiracy that uses Texas classrooms to convert children to Islam and communism?

CSCOPE is an online curriculum management resource developed by the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC), a group made up of the 20 education service centers in the state. The group develops their curriculum framework through several sources.

A Texas lawmaker his filed a bill that would completely revamp the structure of the State Board of Education.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said she filed House Bill 906 in order to change how the State Board of Education members are elected because of what she calls some "glaring defects."

For the first time since 2005, the Texas Senate has confirmed someone to serve a full term as head of the State Board of Education. Barbara Cargill, a Republican from The Woodlands, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011.

Cargill has supported a measure that requires students to question evolution. State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, says Cargill reassured him that she would not allow her religious conservatism to interfere with her leadership of the board.