The Collin County Observer

I consider myself a constitutionalist and I stand in strong agreement with the separation of church and state. I think Don was teetering on that line. I also think Don is a great guy, but in Collin County, conservatives have to understand that you can't just be a constitutionalist when it benefits your point of view. It's an all the time approach to values that benefit our country. For that reason, I will be voting for Thomas Ratliff .

It is interested to think about the SBOE. The representatives represent the largest population and geographical area of any other office holder save state-wide races.

District 9 spans from the Red River to an area south of Austin. That's huge! Also, since these are considered "low profile races," it's hard to raise money to campaign across such a vast space.

But, voters to take notice that McLeroy has embarrassed our district time and time again in Austin. I call him the crusading dentist, which is an odd mixture. Nevertheless, the SBOE has real impacts on what children learn and the operations of Texas schools.

It's worth the time to research, and I'd encourage you to vote for Mr. Ratliff.

I agree that Ratliff is a much better choice. Having said that, I wanted to point out that no place in the US Constitution does it talk about a separation of church and state. Read the 1st amendment very carefully. It says that Congress shall make to laws, etc. This is because several of the states had state supported religions at the time and in fact if you travel to Massachusetts you can visit many active churchs today that were built with tax dollars. The states did not want Congress messing with their religions.

Thanks for all your hard work, Bill. You keep us well-informed.

If you are endoring Ratliff, enough reason for me to vote McLeroy.
I am a conservative teacher which is rare and I am sick of entities such as yourself throwing our childrens future down the drain with your hogwash liberal agenda.

Dear Right wing:

The Collin County Observer has not endorsed any candidate in the Republican primary. Since you are a teacher, I assume you can read. The posting is a reprint of a Dallas Morning News editorial.

The Observer has always reported endorsements by the major media.

Bill

For those of you unfamiliar with the actual issues that the SBOE has dealt with, while Mr. Don McLeroy has been a member (since 1998), I would like to summarize a few in the next paragraph. To become an informed voter, you should look past the Dallas Morning News endorsement, and form your own independent conclusions. FYI: The media LOVES to repeat the mantra that Mr. McLeroy is a young-earth creationist, even though he has NOT pushed the teaching of creationism in our schools. (Question for our state media: are Christians no longer considered "intelligent" enough or "reasonable" enough to participate in society???)

MATH: The conservatives on the SBOE, including Mr. McLeroy, have refused to implement "Everyday Math", otherwise known as Chicago math, which has proven to be a failure where implemented (Google it online to see for yourself). The SBOE commissioned a study on various math textbooks, and if you find their 3rd grade study online as I did, you can clearly see that the Chicago math method is sorely lacking in FUNDAMENTALS at the 3rd grade level. ENGLISH: The SBOE has emphasized phonics instead of whole language. SCIENCE: The SBOE, has allowed for the evolutionary theory to be analyzed, rather than teaching it as a NO DEBATE ALLOWED scientific FACT. (Read Michael Crighton's articles on the dangers of scientific "consensus.") Many scientists agree that microevolutionary theory is observable and supported by a body of evidence, but what many scientists disagree on is the teaching of macroevolution, since this is not observable (in current populations) and the supporting body of evidence is debatable. NOTE: The SBOE is NOT endorsing the teaching of Creationism in science class. You can visit Mr. McLeroy's website and on the left hand side under science view the science TEKS yourself. HISTORY: The history standards have also been a problem where the revisionists want to paint America as a despicable, evil country. For more information, please read this article, written by a conservative who has served on the U.S. history curriculum review panel: http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=22034. SEX ED: The SBOE, has refused to implement "anything goes" sex education endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and has implemented abstinence education. Progressives argue that abstinence education does not work, but a recent peer-reviewed study has shown that it can work: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/education/03abstinence.html.

Do you want a SBOE who is willing to endure controversy in order to TEACH kids rather than INDOCTRINATE them to the liberal, left-wing agenda or EXPERIMENT with your child's education by imposing the latest unproven fad (like fuzzy math)??? In order to keep the focus on quality education that works, keep the true conservatives, like Mr. McLeroy in there.