THE CARGILL CONNECTION, May 2005

Dear friends and supporters,

Has the spring passed by very quickly or is it my imagination? Now that June is upon us, I'm sure you are getting ready for your family vacations as we are---we will be off to Virginia soon to see our nephew get married. This is my parents’ first grandchild to get married, so it will be a big event for all of us!

Let me update you on some important issues that are going on with the State Board of Education:

ACTION ITEMS:

The following action items need your immediate attention! Many of you responded to the Action Items in my April newsletter - thank you so much. I have been told that your calls and e-mails have truly made a difference in Austin! Please keep up the good work and let your voices be heard.

A. The legislature is working out the final details on the House and Senate bills that will affect our children’s textbooks. We are working hard to make sure that the elected State Board of Education retains its authority over textbook reviews. We also want the textbook adoption cycle to stay in place to ensure quality instructional materials for children. If you agree, please take a few minutes and either call or e-mail the members of the conference committee listed below.

Senator Florence Shapiro florence.shapiro@senate.state.tx.us (chair) 512-463-0108

Senator Royce West royce.west@senate.state.tx.us (vice-chair) 512-463-0123

Senator Kyle Janek kyle.janek@senate.state.tx.us 512-463-0117

Senator Kenneth Ambrister kenneth.ambrister@senate.state.tx.us 512-463-0118

Rep. Kent Grusendorf kent.grusendorf@house.state.tx.us 512-463-0624

Rep. Dan Branch dan.branch@house.state.tx.us 512-463-0367

Rep. Dianne Delisi Dianne.delisi@house.state.tx.us 512-463-0630

Rep. Rob Eissler rob.eissler@house.state.tx.us 512-463-0797

Rep. Bill Keffer bill.keffer@house.state.tx.us 512-463-0244

B. In addition, please call or e-mail your senators ASAP. Ask that our children’s textbooks be fully funded by supporting Sen. Shapiro’s amendment to House Bill 10. Many books that the State Board has approved have still not received funding, so they are not in classrooms yet! Examples are fine arts textbooks as well as the abstinence-based health books that were adopted last year. (A complete list of Senators is at the end of this newsletter.)

FOLLOW-UP TO THE APRIL SBOE MEETING:

Here is a brief description of what happened at the April SBOE meeting.

1. The Board had an informative work session on the Permanent School Fund. We discussed the Fund’s asset allocation and specific non-traditional asset classes which could be added in the future. The Board also had a work session on Early Childhood Education.

2. The Board unanimously approved that the refined secondary math TEKS (the state curriculum) will be implemented in the 2006-2007 school year. Right now the elementary math TEKS are being refined. I still have copies of the suggested changes for Grades K-5 math if would like to see them. I have already sent the suggestions of many math teachers to TEA. That is so helpful! Please e-mail me at sboe@barbaracargill.com if you are interested.

3. The Texas Education Code authorizes the SBOE to set the standard of satisfactory performance on the TAKS tests. The Board adopted a plan that details the process that will be used to set the passing standards for the new 8^th grade science TAKS. This test is scheduled to be fully implemented in the spring of 2006.

4. The Planning Committee met to review and confirm the removal from consideration of charter school applications because of incompleteness. In the next few months, the Planning Committee will meet again to conduct the charter school interviews. Our volunteers from District 8 have been busy reading the charter school applications that were sent to them from TEA. Many of them are over 200 pages long! A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteers--you are making a difference in the lives of children!

To see the complete agenda for more information, please go to the Texas Education Agency website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us. The agenda is posted under “State Board of Education and Commissioner” (on the left). After that screen appears, click on “Meeting Schedule and Agendas” (on the right).

OTHER HAPPENINGS:

*During this legislative session, I have been busy e-mailing, calling, and writing senators and representatives over the last few weeks. While in Austin, I visited the offices of the Senate Education committee members as well as several Representatives. (No more high heels for me while in the Capitol!) I am working diligently to encourage the Legislature to pay for textbooks that are sitting in warehouses, just waiting to be paid for and shipped out to classrooms. And it is my firm belief that your elected State Board must continue to work on behalf of children by reviewing books for factual errors and quality.

*As a SBOE member, I am asked to nominate teachers for various panels and committees. I have turned in the names of several wonderful science teachers who will be working on the Grade 8 Science TAKS test standard-setting panel.

*I am also contacting people all over District 8 to ask for the names of excellent English/Language Arts and Reading teachers. This summer, panels will meet to start working on refining the ELA-Reading TEKS for all grade levels. I am very proud of the teacher nominees from our district. They will make good decisions that will affect Texas public schoolchildren!

*It takes the efforts of many people to find factual errors in textbooks. A heartfelt thanks goes to Neal Frey, senior textbook analyst with Educational Research Analysts based in Longview, Texas, for his dedication to improving textbooks. Founder Mel Gabler left a living legacy that is still the “gold standard of public school textbook reform”. Neal carries on the tradition of reviewing textbooks, helping SBOE members, and advising parents and teachers. For more information, you can contact Neal at 903-753-5993 or Info@TextbookReviews.org.

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Thank you for your interest in my role on the SBOE, for your encouragement and prayers, and for your help in bringing about positive change for public schoolchildren.