Education board chairman's confirmation in jeopardy
April 23, 2009
McLeroy, who was nominated chairman by Gov. Rick Perry in 2007, faced searing questioning during his lengthy confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Nominations Committee.
Written by Kate Alexander, The Austin American Statesman
The Texas Senate's confirmation of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, could be on shaky ground.
McLeroy, who was nominated chairman by Gov. Rick Perry in 2007, faced searing questioning during his lengthy confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Nominations Committee.
Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said afterward that McLeroy might not have the support to be confirmed.
The 12 Democratic senators could prevent him from getting the needed two-thirds vote of the 31-member Senate.
And Jackson noted there are Republican senators, as well, who have filed legislation stripping key powers from the State Board of Education because of concerns that the board has become hyperpoliticized.
"You've created a hornet's nest like I've never seen," Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, told McLeroy.
Shapleigh and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, challenged McLeroy over his leadership during a number of controversial decisions, including the recent adoption of new science curriculum standards that critics say undermine the teaching of evolution.
They said there is a perception that McLeroy is using the state board to promote his conservative religious views.
"The hornet's nest is almost unavoidable," said McLeroy, who denied injecting his religious views into curriculum or textbook decisions. There are different educational philosophies at play, he said, and that is the source of the controversy, not his religious views.
Shapleigh said he plans to have McLeroy separated from other candidates when his nomination comes up on the Senate floor so that it could be debated and voted on individually.
"That's assuming he makes it out of the committee," Jackson said.
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