The Houston Chronicle reports that a participant in the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol is likely to be elected to the Texas State Board of Education. She has pledged to fight “critical race theory” (i.e. teaching about racism) and to support charter schools.
Underscoring Texas lawmakers’ rightward lurch on education issues in recent years, the candidate likely to replace a moderate Republican on the State Board of Education in a district outside Houston is a right-wing activist who participated in protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
After winning the primary in March, the front-runner in the District 7 race is Julie Pickren, a former trustee for Alvin Independent School District. Pickren was voted off that board last year after her participation in the protest at the U.S. Capitol was revealed — the basis of a campaign against her by the Brazoria County NAACP.
Pickren is a former delegate to the GOP’s national and state conventions, her LinkedIn says, and on Facebook she blamed antifa, rather than Trump supporters, for violence during the Capitol riot, a claim that other Republicans have made without proof. She declined a request for an interview….
Republicans have moved further to the right on education issues in Texas over the past 18 months. Earlier this summer, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his support for private school vouchers and endorsed a “Parental Bill of Rights” to give parents more power over what and how their kids are taught in schools. Last year, the Legislature passed and Abbott signed a slew of conservative bills relating to education, including restrictions on how social studies can be taught and on transgender children playing school sports.
At the local level, school board politics have become increasingly heated, with often angry discussions over diversity and equity policies in the schools. Parent groups have organized PACs in opposition to what they view as progressive activism in education, raising substantial amounts of money to reshape local school boards around the state.
Next year’s State Board of Education is set to be more conservative, with Robinson leaving as well as two other Republicans who lost their March primaries to opponents supported by right-wing PACs. There are currently nine Republicans and six Democrats serving on the board.
The board’s core responsibilities include writing Texas’ public school curriculums, managing the permanent fund that backs debt taken out by schools, and deciding whether to allow new charter schools in the state; Pickren has said she supports adding more of them.
Moderate pushed out
The District 7 seat opened up last year, when the Legislature during redistricting moved incumbent Matt Robinson into a different district so he couldn’t run for re-election. Robinson, a doctor from Friendswood, has said he feels Republican political leaders in the state did this intentionally because they did not believe he was sufficiently supportive of charter schools and other conservative policy goals.
In a rare move in today’s increasingly polarized politics, Robinson is endorsing the Democrat in the race, Galveston ISD teacher Dan Hochman, to be his successor.
Why?
“Because he’s running against Julie Pickren. And she will be bad for public education,” Robinson said.
In lists of the most important issues to her campaign, Pickren has named ridding public schools of critical race theory, an academic theory that critics use as a catchall term to describe diversity and equity initiatives as well as discussion of systemic or historical racism. Pickren is also supportive of “parents rights” initiatives such as those espoused by Abbott.
“She is leading a fight, an assault on public education that’s going on right now. It’s not among all Republicans, but it’s among a good number and she’s kind of leading that fight. And the idea that critical race theory is going on in most schools and most districts, which is entirely false. So her overall approach is, in my view, anti-public education,” Robinson said…
‘ Soul of public education ’
Hochman acknowledged that he’s facing an uphill climb in the race, as the district leans conservative. Pickren’s campaign has spent about $40,000 so far, while Hochman’s has spent about $10,000. Hochman said his campaign bank account currently had less than $100 in it…
“It really, truly is a fight for the soul of public education in the state of Texas, which is failing right now,” Hochman said of the race. Hochman added that he would oppose expansion of charter schools.
“I’m up against a woman who is clearly anti-public education. She’s being funded by the far right, whose agenda has been publicly clear that they want to dismantle public education and replace it with private schools and charter schools so they can push through a far-right Christian agenda in schooling. And that’s not like a conspiracy, that’s been pretty much out in the open.”
edward.mckinley@chron.com
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In cancer, the trend is to move away from chemotherapy to target therapy. Rather than flood the body with poison with the hope it will kill the bad things without doing so to too many of the good things. Cells are being engineered to target the cancer the deliver targeted “bombs” to the cancer cell nucleus to kill it without creating the collateral damage in other parts of the body. Seems the [r]ight has turned it into a political strategy, but using both simultaneously to make sure death is certain.
targeted therapy
Voters should do their homework before they vote, and they shouldn’t listen to the biased ads for candidates. Alvin is very diverse. If the Latinos and Blacks in the district ban together, they could defeat Pickren, if volunteers are willing to do a door to door outreach. Friendswood is mostly white with lots of parents that work in Houston and have good jobs. I doubt charter schools would be a threat here. Galveston has a significant number of Blacks that date back to slavery, but this beautiful, unique city has changed in the last twenty years. It has become more “yuppified.” Local communities need to do their homework before they vote. Checking with the League of Women Voters before voting is often a way to get factual information instead of hype and spin.
sadly, more to the point: Voters should have a CLUE that they need to do homework on education issues/school board elections. Many still have minimal understanding of what is happening right under their noses.
recent story from wapo below. people should be upset about it:
“Democrats spent nearly $44 million to help far-right Republicans win primaries. It’s a controversial strategy — boosting candidates aligned with Trump in places where the former president is unpopular, while telling donors that a Republican win could outright end democracy.
“It’s a very dangerous game,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in a recent interview, objecting to Democratic spending on behalf of his state’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, Darren Bailey. “In a very strong Republican year, it’s feasible for a Republican to win the governor’s race and they’re promoting a democracy denier.”
Indeed they did — in Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Arizona, and at great expense. (Dario McCarty of OpenSecrets first did the math.) Most of the spending was focused on Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire who has put his own wealth into every campaign, worked with national Democrats to elevate Bailey.
It worked there, and in Pennsylvania; we’ll find out soon how it played in Maryland and Arizona, where the candidates supported by the Republican establishment have fewer vulnerabilities than the losers in the Midwest. At the same time, anti-Trump Republicans are still outraising their opponents — that’s among the reasons that people like Kinzinger are so annoyed by Democratic meddling.”
Sam,
The Democratic funding of extremist Republicans is a dangerous strategy. It could easily backfire.
In MD we have the choice of a liar/grifter Wes Moore for the Dems and a QAnon/MAGA Dan Cox for the Republicans. We are screwed!
Pied Piper Strategy. It’s how we got Trump. The fact that it backfired so spectacularly, yet they’re doing it again should make every Democrat take notice and wonder who their party really serves.
Republicans that cater to the dangerously dumber-than-dumb MAGA fascist mob are also fascists.
The irony- Former Gates Foundation employees talking in 2022 about schools as the backbone of democracy.
Politico reported today, “Deep-pocketed ed group targets critical states.” The group, Campaign for Our Shared Future has worked in school board races in La., Az., Fl., and Mich. Now, their plans are bigger, working with Our Turn and Florida Student Power Network, they are supposedly fighting back against the right wing. Who knows what the libertarian labyrinth of Teach for America, Clinton and Gates- associated people of Shared Future will do with the power after they attempt to defeat the religious right’s back to the 1950″s campaign.
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Well- this isn’t good. The self-appointed savior for schools in 2022 was formerly a senior advisor to John King and Arne Duncan. The Campaign for Our Shared Future evidently sees no hypocrisy in their current stated outrage against, “demands for approval of teacher lessons”. If the Gates conglomerate is creating and dissemenating lesson plans, that’s o.k., I presume.
And, the other person at the top- COSF’s executive director is a Pahara Institute Fellow. Her experience is with charter schools.
Remember the Ammo
Remember the Ammo!
The AR fifteen!
Remember the camo!
The brown and the green!
Remember the climbin’ !
The limousine wheel!
Remember the Shaman!
Avenging the steal!