How can you vote on something when you have no knowledge of what is being presented.
AUSTIN -- The State Board of Education's debate on new English and reading standards took another rowdy turn Friday as members approved a never-before-seen version of the lengthy document which materialized less than an hour before the board was to take a final vote.
After a wacky and terse debate on the new curriculum, the board voted 9-6 in favor of the new version, which will remain in place for the next decade and sets standards for state tests and textbooks, as well as classroom teaching.
``I find it's really wild that we can work for three years on a project and then the board is so qualified they can pull it out of their hat overnight,'' said board member Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican who, like other board members, received the substituted document when it was slipped under her hotel door less than an hour before their meeting was set to convene Friday morning.
``How am I supposed to vote on a document when I've had it in my hands for slightly over an hour?'' asked angered board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat from Corpus Christi. ``How are we supposed to reply to our constituents? I don't understand that. I can't support a document that I haven't had a chance to read.''
``It's really hard to say since nobody has seen it,'' said Jennifer Canaday, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators. ``They were rushed by the chairman through a review of the changes. We were told by the authors of the document that it is supposed to contain sections from the teachers work group version and others from the Standardswork version ... but again nobody's seen it, so it's hard to say for sure what's in there.''
``Mr. Chair you're going so fast ... you're moving so fast we can't find it in the other document,'' Berlanga said, shortly after the page-by-page explanation began.
After more complaints, McLeroy declared that he would continue at the fast pace.
``The ruling is you're being dilatory in dragging this out,'' McLeroy said.
``I'm voting against it. I'm sick of this,'' replied board member Mavis Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, moments after the discussion started.
The future of our education was voted on without even reading the documents. Try explaining that to your kids.
