Candidates for the Texas State Board of Education want to bring big changes to the state’s schools -- regardless of whether or not those changes are constitutional.
A survey released earlier this month by Texas Values, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group, shows that four of the Republican candidates running for the SBOE believe that the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public schools, and three of them believe that students should learn about intelligent design.
The survey was released as part of a comprehensive voter guide for state Republican voters. It includes results from questionnaires given to a number of Republican politicians, among them candidates in the races for governor and attorney general. Texas Values did not survey candidates in races with only one Republican challenger.
According to the survey, Lady Theresa Thombs, Eric Mahroum and incumbent Patricia Hardy, all running for the SBOE spot in the state’s 11th District, and David Bradley, incumbent candidate from the 7th District, believe the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public schools and that Islamic law is a threat to America. Thombs, Mahroum and Bradley also believe it is not the government’s responsibility to educate children, and that biology textbooks should only be adopted if they describe the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution.
Finally, the survey showed that Mahroum, Bradley and Thombs all interpret the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to mean that God is the highest source of authority in the country, over voters, the Supreme Court and the Constitution.
Other notable survey answers came from Lisa Fritsch and Secede Kilgore, Republicans running for governor, who said they think the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public schools and free market competition for education dollars would create better schools than the current system. All the Republican candidates running for lieutenant governor gave similar answers to these questions.
Last month, SBOE candidate Lady Theresa Thombs gained attention for her comments about the theory of evolution. "We know we didn't come from monkeys," Thombs reportedly said at the time.
All of the Republican candidates in the race for lieutenant governor have said they believe creationism should be taught in schools.
(H/T Texas Freedom Network.)
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