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4 Republicans prevailed in 5 contested Texas State Board of Training races Tuesday night time, solidifying a GOP majority on the board answerable for figuring out what the state’s 5.5 million public faculty youngsters study within the classroom.
Factoring within the election outcomes as of Wednesday morning, the board now contains 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Democrats regained a seat after it was vacated by Aicha Davis, who stepped right down to run for the Texas Home.
Republican incumbents Tom Maynard (District 10), Pam Little (District 12) and Aaron Kinsey (District 15) defeated their Democratic challengers, whereas Republican Brandon Corridor, who ousted longtime GOP incumbent Patricia “Pat” Hardy (District 11) within the March major, was additionally victorious.
A winner hadn’t been decided as of early Wednesday within the race for the District 1 seat at present held by El Paso Democrat Melissa Ortega, who determined to not search one other time period. Democrat Gustavo Reveles is working in opposition to Republican challenger Michael “Travis” Stevens.
Democrats Marisa Perez-Diaz (District 3) and Staci Childs (District 4), each of whom ran uncontested, held onto their seats. Tiffany Clark, a Democrat working to fill the District 13 seat vacated by Davis, additionally received after working unchallenged.
The 15 members on the board play a rare function in figuring out what college students study within the classroom and what’s required for youths to graduate, in addition to in overseeing a $56 billion state endowment to assist Texas public faculties.
The stakes of the board races had been particularly excessive this yr, for the reason that group’s tasks subsequent yr might embody revising Texas’ social research curriculum. Some conservatives on the Republican-dominated board campaigned on the concept that public faculties are harming youngsters with how they train America’s historical past of racism and its variety.
The board in latest months has fielded complaints a few Texas Training Company-proposed curriculum that, if authorized later this month, would insert Bible teachings into elementary faculty studying and language arts classes. The group has delayed its vote on a long-awaited Native Research course, protecting the tradition and historical past of tribes and nations throughout Texas and the U.S. And in recent times, the board has rejected science textbooks over their messaging on local weather change and walked again its opposition to highschool vouchers, a program that may put aside public tax {dollars} for fogeys to pay their youngsters’s non-public faculty tuition.
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Of the eight races this yr, listed below are the outcomes of the 5 contested ones.
District 1
A winner hasn’t been declared in District 1, which encompasses El Paso County and a part of Bexar County.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrat Gustavo Reveles was main Republican Michael “Travis” Stevens by a small margin. Most votes have been counted.
District 10
In District 10, which incorporates Bell County and a part of Williamson County, Republican Tom Maynard defeated Democrat Raquel Sáenz Ortiz.
Maynard, of Florence, has served on the board for 11 years. He’s at present the chair of the board’s Committee on College Finance and helps oversee the $56 billion state endowment referred to as the Everlasting College Fund. With greater than 30 years in schooling, Maynard spent greater than a dozen of them as an agricultural science instructor. He additionally labored as govt director of the Texas FFA Affiliation. Maynard’s priorities embody bettering the standard of educational supplies, creating and implementing a library ebook evaluation course of and finishing revisions to the social research and arithmetic requirements as a few of his prime priorities. He additionally has mentioned he opposes so-called “woke ideologies” in public schooling, in line with his web site, and has vowed to “continue to fight to ensure students are not subject to radical and inappropriate content in Texas classrooms.”
District 11
In District 11, which incorporates Parker County and a part of Tarrant County, Republican Brandon Corridor defeated Democrat Rayna Glasser and Inexperienced Occasion candidate Hunter Crow.
Corridor is a youth pastor who has described Texas as having “a broken public education system” the place children “face an onslaught against their innocence” — significantly with how America’s historical past of racism is taught in school rooms and what he has known as “obscene library books” and a “sexualized agenda.” Corridor lists on his web site his dedication “to making quality, conservative education a reality for all students” and to ascertain constitution faculties extra simply. He additionally desires dad and mom to “play a central role in shaping the educational trajectory of their children.”
District 12
In District 12, which incorporates Collin County, Republican Pam Little defeated Democrat George King.
Little, of Fairview, has served on the board since 2019 and is at present the group’s vice chair. A co-owner of a fence firm, she has taught programs in small enterprise administration in group school, in line with her State Board of Training biography. Little has voted in opposition to presenting a “biased view” of the fossil gasoline business and social research requirements that “water down our history,” in line with her marketing campaign web site. She listed as her accomplishments whereas on the board, amongst different issues, implementing phonics-based curriculum requirements, approving private monetary literacy schooling and updating the Texas Dyslexia Handbook.
District 15
In District 15, which incorporates Ector and Lubbock counties, Republican Aaron Kinsey defeated Democrat Morgan Kirkpatrick and Libertarian Jack Westbrook.
Kinsey, of Midland, was elected to the board in 2022 and appointed chair by Gov. Greg Abbott final December. Kinsey is a former Air Pressure pilot who now oversees an aviation oil area providers firm in Midland, in line with his on-line biography. On the Texas Republican Occasion Conference this yr, Kinsey acknowledged he didn’t know a lot concerning the State Board of Training previous to working however that he did “understand the greatness of Texas” and that his household’s values weren’t being represented in public faculties. Amongst Kinsey’s prime priorities, he mentioned on the conference, is for faculties to show Texas youngsters “how to think and not to hate themselves.” He additionally advocated for curricula that embrace “capitalism and self-reliance as nobel quests.” Kinsey proclaimed on the finish of his speech: “You have a chairman who will fight for these three-letter words: G-O–D, G-O-P, and U-S-A.”
