Good morning, 

Hope you had a great weekend, and I appreciate you starting your week with the Texas Minute! Let's jump into Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

But First... Something New!

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Aggies Have Gone Woke

• Thought of by many Texans as a relatively conservative university, a new report explains how Texas A&M has “gone woke” in recent years. Brandon Waltens has the details.
     

• Scott Yenor, a Boise State professor and fellow at the Claremont Institute, explained during a recent interview on The Luke Macias Show how leftist "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" (DEI) policies have seeped into Aggieland. DEI programs prioritize factors like race, gender, and sexual orientation over merit in hiring, admission, and curriculum.

     
• “Texas A&M has this reputation as being one of the more conservative public universities. I know a generation ago when someone asked me where I would send my kids to school, I said the best public university in the country is Texas A&M,” said Yenor. That's changed.
      

• He pointed out a shocking statistic: Texas A&M University currently has more DEI personnel than the University of Texas at Austin.

      
• Yenor highlighted two separate proposals designed to tackle the issue: the recent gubernatorial order banning DEI statements from state agencies—including universities—as well as proposals to defund DEI offices altogether through the budget, a step already taken by Florida.

Pushing Hate: Explaining D.E.I.

• "Pushing Hate," a special investigative series this week from Texas Scorecard's investigative team, will explore "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" – what it is, what it means, and what happens practically when it is implemented.
   
• The first article will go live at noon today: "Pushing Hate: 'The Woke Mind Virus'"
      
• Tomorrow, the series will focus on how DEI is infecting the state government.

VIDEO: Public School Employees Brag About Ignoring Anti-CRT Law

• New video footage published by the watchdog group Accuracy in Media shows administrators in several North Texas and San Antonio school districts admitting that a recently enacted state law purportedly banning critical race theory is largely ignored. Darrell Frost has the story.
          
• The video features a number of secretly recorded conversations with school district staff acknowledging that the 2021 law prohibiting teachers or administrators from promoting critical race theory tenets has not affected classroom instruction or district practices.
          
• When asked by an undercover reporter if the law has had a tangible effect in their district, several administrators confirmed it had not prompted any changes.
          
• For example, Evan Whitfield, the director of science at Coppell Independent School District, told the reporter: “The bottom line is we’ve gotten around it by saying, ‘Well, we’re just not teaching that.’”
        
• Easy to avoid a toothless law, if you're committed to lying...

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Teacher-turned-Lawmaker Wants More Oversight For Instructional Materials

• A freshman Texas lawmaker who is also a former teacher and state education official has filed legislation restoring public accountability for what is taught in public schools, reports Erin Anderson.
      
• State Rep. Terri Leo Wilson (R-Galveston) wants the elected State Board of Education to not just oversee curriculum, as they do now, but also instructional materials – as they once did.
   
• “The curriculum is what every student must know at the end of each grade level. The board still writes those, and we have fairly good, sound standards,” explained Leo-Wilson. The problem is the additional content that gets slipped in beyond the "must know" portion of the educational experience.
      
• "The problem is, it’s in teacher training programs. But more importantly, it is in all of the instructional materials that are hitting your kids’ desks, along with a pile of other objectionable material, biased material." – Terri Leo Wilson
      

• For the past 12 years, the lawmaker explained, the board has had very little authority over classroom materials. The result: “We have a generation of kids who have been taught that socialism is okay.”

Abbott's 'Deafening' Silence On Child Mutilation

• When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced his emergency items for the legislative session, one conservative priority was noticeably absent: protecting children from the lifelong consequences of abusive medical practices such as chemical castration and unnecessary cosmetic surgeries that, in actuality, cannot change their gender.
      

• Sydnie Henry reports that issue activists and Republican grassroots leaders are shocked at the "deafening" silence coming from the Governor's Mansion on the issue.
      

• Banning child gender mutilation is a legislative priority for the Republican Party of Texas.

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