Issue Position: Community

Issue Position

The first concept of community kept coming up as I talked with teachers, parents, students, and educational leaders. We need to put students, teachers, and the local community back at the center of education. The State Board of Education has been micromanaging school curriculum for almost twenty years. The results have been disastrous, contributing to Texas having one of the nation's most dismal records of graduating students through high school. Teachers and students are tied to a grim routine of preparing for tests most of the year, under the threat of firing or loss of school accreditation. Teacher creativity and independence are stifled and students suffer the consequences. The goals for education have been transformed from an enriching growth experience to a crippling process of teaching to the test with dumbed-down texts personally edited by a group of eight extremists on the State Board of Education. We must put teachers, students, and local communities at the center of education.

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