Texas State School Board Has a New Chair

Odd as it may sound, the Texas State Board of Education has not had a chairperson leading it that has been confirmed by the State Senate for several years now.

Don McLeroy, who actually lost in the last election to a Republican challenger, was the first chairman not to be confirmed by the senate, and this is mainly because of the antics he pulled in the recently completed overhaul of the state’s science curriculum.

The vote, taken in May 2009 was 19 for and 11 against confirmation – right down party lines. You need a 2/3ds vote to get confirmed.

And so that left Governor Perry no choice but to name a new chairperson in July after the legislature adjourned Sine Die, and that person was fellow young Earth creationist Gail Lowe. I did a piece on Lowe in January of that year exposing her very, very poor grasp of science in general and geology in particular.

But guess what? Lowe was supposed to get confirmed in the last legislative session but they never brought the matter to the Senate floor for a vote. Again, they didn’t have the votes to confirm her. So as soon as the legislative session ended, so did Lowe’s tenure as chairperson.

So now what does Rick Perry do? He named fellow young Earth creationist Barbara Cargill to be the new chairperson.

So, nothing new under the sun. The state school board will continue to be a hotbed of crazed religious fanaticism and socially regressive ideology that has made Texas education standards a laughingstock across the nation.

And she still needs to be confirmed. In 2013.