Good morning!

It is almost like Texas' government schools are making the case for educational choice... 

Here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

School District Hosts LGBTQ Celebration Week

• Despite knowing that state laws were broken last year during their first “Pride Week” celebration, Austin Independent School District is once again setting aside this entire week for the indoctrination and sexualization of children. Soli Rice has the details.

      
• In 2022, the district was told by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the activities around the district's compulsory LGBTQ celebration were legally problematic.
     
• “By hosting ‘Pride Week,’ your district has, at best, undertaken a week-long instructional effort in human sexuality without parental consent,” explained Paxton at the time. “Or, worse, your district is cynically pushing a week-long indoctrination of your students that not only fails to obtain parental consent, but subtly cuts parents out of the loop. Either way, you are breaking state law.”
      
• While the school district claims the week-long celebration is designed to promote an "inclusive environment," parents responded negatively on the district's social media sites. A review of the responses finds parents using terms like “repulsive,” “ridiculous,” “sick,” and “degeneracy” to describe the event, while others referred to the district’s actions as “child abuse.”
       
• AISD school officials will be giving out “pride and ally” stickers, posters, flags, and (of course) pronoun buttons at campus front offices. Lesson plans from last year included a teacher-led “community circle,” where children were told about LGBTQ+ behavior and sexual practices – and urged not to tell their parents about it.
      
• “Long gone are the days when we took pride in reading, writing, and arithmetic in the schoolhouse,” said Chris Hopper, president of Texas Family Project. “Now pride week is a toxic environment that targets heterosexuals as bigots and showcases the flamboyant alphabet monster as the prized showpiece.”
      
• Government schools now exist for leftist indoctrination, not public education.

School Psychologists Push Critical Race Theory, Social Justice

• The Texas Association of School Psychologists wants lawmakers to pass mandates and allocate cash for more critical race theory and social justice activities in the state's government school classrooms.
        
• As Katy Marshall reports, the school psychologists' new legislative platform calls for their profession to advance “social justice” and “equity.” Although these terms are seemingly innocuous, left-wing activists use them to spread critical race theory and push for equal outcomes over equal opportunities. The organization is also asking for lawmakers to give schools more cash to indoctrinate teachers on "implicit bias."
        
• According to the organization, “School psychologists enact social justice through culturally-responsive professional practice and advocacy to create schools, communities, and systems that ensure equity and fairness for all children and youth.”
        
• If that all sounds leftist-crazy, it is. Might explain why so many people are pushing for school choice...
      
• That was evident yesterday at the Capitol, where Gov. Greg Abbott joined a hundreds of parents, grandparents, and students gathered at the steps of the Texas Capitol to show support for school choice. (Check out the story by Sydnie Henry.)
      
• “We’re going to show up, we’re going to show out, and we’re going to show the Legislature exactly why it’s so important that we empower parents to choose the education that’s best for their child,” said Abbott.

Paxton: School Choice Is Legal

• As educational choice has become a priority issue for many Texans following the state Legislature, Attorney General Ken Paxton has released an advisory opinion stating that there is no constitutional barrier to implementing school choice in Texas. Brandon Waltens has the story.

     
• Paxton's legal opinion came in response to a request by State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), who chairs the Senate Education Committee and is the author of Senate Bill 8, the chamber’s priority school choice bill. Specifically, Creighton asked Paxton if such a program would violate the Texas Constitution’s “Blaine Amendment,” which prohibits public funds from being sent to religious institutions, such as parochial private schools.
      
• Paxton explained in his opinion the "Blaine Amendment" in the Texas Constitution runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
     
• “Texas parents should have the right to choose the best school for their kids, and every Texas child deserves the opportunity to attend a good, safe school where they can learn and thrive,” said Paxton. “Today I issued a legal opinion which informs the Texas Legislature that there are no constitutional barriers to enacting school choice in Texas. It’s time to empower Texas parents and provide additional educational opportunities so every Texas child can reach their dreams.”

Lawmakers Hear Testimony On COVID Mandates

• Three years after the nation and state were ground to a halt by COVID-19 fear-mongering, committees in the Texas Legislature this week are tackling bans on related mandates. Sydnie Henry has the details.
       

• In the Senate, lawmakers in the State Affairs Committee discussed Senate Bill 29 by State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury). His legislation would prohibit state and local governments from implementing or enforcing a vaccine mandate or mask requirement, or close schools and private businesses, in their efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. This topic is one of the legislative priorities for both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

      
• Meanwhile, in the House Committee on Public Health, lawmakers heard testimony regarding legislation sponsored by State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian). House Bill 81 would prevent any entity from compelling or coercing individuals to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. 
      
• The Texas Medical Association and the Texas Pediatric Society sent representatives to testify against both measures. In recent years, the two Austin-based organizations have taken hard-left turns against patients' rights and civil liberties.

Appraisal District Rescinds Resignation, Ensuring Board President Will Be Recalled

• Tarrant County taxpayers are finally seeing some accountability from the troubled Tarrant Appraisal District, the agency that sets property values used by local governments to calculate tax bills. Erin Anderson reports the district's board voted to rescind the resignation of the agency's chairman so that taxing entities could proceed with their recall effort.
       

• The Tarrant Appraisal District has been under fire for a series of scandals. Board Chairman Kathryn Wilemon submitted her resignation after the City of Keller voted to recall her from the position. The chief appraiser, Jeff Law, unilaterally declared the recall void. He claimed TAD's lawyer advised him on the action, but the lawyer said he gave no such advice.
          
• Board members, seeking to avoid another scandal, vetoed Law's pronouncement and are keeping Wilemon in her position so the recall can continue. Law, meanwhile, will be subject to a 90-day “repair” process in which the issues around the troubled agency are to be resolved.

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