Elected State Board of Education Threatened

Texas voters elect 15 individuals from across the state to represent our diverse views on the important issue of education. These elected individuals – the State Board of Education – each represent more voters than do any member of Congress or state senator.

Yet for some reason, the State Board of Education has become a political punching bag. The SBOE takes it on the chin by folks who may be frustrated by the education system or who seek more control over education or want to spend funds the SBOE controls.

Mostly, the SBOE is under attack by individuals who don’t like that the SBOE is now representing the views of Texas voters – and they are increasingly more conservative.

We must dismiss efforts to marginalize the SBOE by elected officials who threaten to take their authority away ostensibly because the SBOE doesn’t always “play nicely in the sand box.” Frankly, voters don’t elect the SBOE to come to Austin to get along – they elect them to represent their often-disparate views on education. And Texas legislators should allow the SBOE to do just that – without threatening to limit their authority or eliminate them as an elected body.

If we eliminated every elected body that didn’t get along, we’d end up with no Congress, no state legislature and no city councils. So let’s take that argument off the table.

The SBOE controls the $20 billion Permanent School Fund. That may be the reason many legislators publicly suggest elimination of the elected SBOE. In times of state budget shortfalls, that $20 billion is enough to make any big-government advocate salivate. And it is precisely why we must protect the SBOE and their authority to control the Permanent School Fund.

Regarding whether or not SBOE members have children, have school-aged children, or have children in public schools, is not relevant. Voters elect these SBOE members and if having their children attending public school is an issue, it would be an issue with the voters – not the media, other board members, or other elected officials.

To state that SBOE members should have children in public schools is akin to making the absurd argument that those who don’t own property should not be able to vote. This is a democracy, folks. And we don’t elect our SBOE members to appease the legislature or the media, but to represent voters in the business of public education policy. And every citizen who chooses to do so can vote.

Peggy Venable

Director, Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy