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| 7/10/2009 3:38:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Perry names Gail Lowe as State Board of Ed chair
Seven-year SBOE member aligned with controversial faction
James Shannon
Mid & South County Editor
The office of Gov. Rick Perry announced today (June 10) that Gail Lowe of Lampasas has been named chair of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).
She was appointed after the Senate rejected a new term for the previous chair, College Station dentist Don McLeroy, when Perry tried to reappoint him. The vote was 19 to 11 in favor, but McLeroy failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority needed for approval.
Because Lowe was appointed to a term that expires on Feb. 1, 2011, she will not face a confirmation vote unless reappointed for a second term as chair since the Texas Legislature is not scheduled to reconvene until January, 2011.
Lowe, co-publisher of a Lampasas newspaper and a former trustee for the Lampasas Independent School District, has served seven years as an elected member of the SBOE board. She was praised by Perry in a press release to announce the appointment.
"Gail has shown exemplary leadership and commitment to the education of young Texans through her work on the State Board of Education for the past seven years, as a classroom volunteer assisting elementary school students with math and reading, and as a member of the Lampasas School District," Gov. Perry said.
Critics noted that Lowe was part of the controversial board faction headed by former chair McLeroy that sought to discredit evolution and impose religious teachings on the state's school curriculum.
Kathy Miller, president of the watchdog group Texas Freedom Network (TFN), reacted to the Lowe appointment with dismay.
"It's disappointing that instead of choosing a mainstream conservative who could heal the divisions on the board, the governor once again appointed someone who repeatedly has put political agendas ahead of the education of Texas schoolchildren," said Miller. "Ms. Lowe has marched in lockstep with a faction of board members who believe that their personal beliefs are more important than the experience and expertise of teachers and academics who have dedicated their careers to educating our children and helping them succeed. We can only hope that she will rise above her history on the board and as chair keep fellow members from continuing to hold the education of our children hostage to divisive 'culture war' battles."
In a release, TFN detailed what they see as objectionable portions of Lowe's record on the State Board of Education:
- This year she appointed David Barton, an absurdly unqualified far-right activist, to a panel of so-called "experts" helping guide the revision of social studies curriculum standards. Barton has already called for removing from the standards people like Cesar Chavez and others he finds politically objectionable.
- In 2004 Ms. Lowe opposed requiring that publishers obey curriculum standards and put medically accurate information about responsible pregnancy and disease prevention in new high school health textbooks.
- In 2007 Ms. Lowe voted to throw out nearly three years of work by teacher writing teams on new language arts standards. Over the strenuous objections of teachers and curriculum specialists, Lowe instead voted for a standards document that the board's far-right bloc patched together overnight and slipped under hotel doors the morning of the final vote.
- In 2003 and 2009 Ms. Lowe supported dumbing down the state's public school science curriculum by voting to include unscientific, creationist criticisms of evolution in science textbooks and curriculum standards.
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