Call for Governors Veto of SB313

WHEREAS, The 2014 Republican Party of Texas Platform states (pg. 22) that the responsibilities of the elected State Board of Education (SBOE) must include Maintaining sole authority over all curricula content and the state adoption of all educational materials; andWHEREAS, The Texas Legislature has sent to Governor Abbott Senate Bill 313, that requires the elected SBOE to modify the essential knowledge and skills of each foundation curriculum subject [and] to narrow the content and scope of standards and skills; andWHEREAS, SB313 puts recent conservative curriculum victories in jeopardy, including emphasis on patriotism as required by state law, discussion of the Founding Fathers and documents, American Exceptionalism, Americas rich religious heritage, character education, achievements of Ronald Reagan; andWHEREAS, the SBOE has provided that the Texas standards require students to know specific facts and reflect conservative values of Texas, but forcing the SBOE to remove content and make it more general reflects the philosophy underlying the Common Core standards; andWHEREAS, A majority of Texas House Republicans voted against the conference report to SB 313, which passed because the vast majority of Texas House Democrats voted for it; andWHEREAS, The elected State Board of Education is currently reviewing and revising the English Language Arts curriculum, and limits on adoption of textbooks in Senate Bill 313 could delay new English, handwriting, spelling, and grammar books for Texas schoolchildren; andWHEREAS, SB 313 will force acompulsory and arbitrary set-aside of 25%of the funds the State Board of Education has to distribute to districts to go to anything but classroom content (such as computer hardware), limiting the ability of the elected State Board of Education to order and adopt instructional materials.THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE STATE REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE that Senate Bill 313 violates the Republican Party of Texas Platform; and BE IT RESOLVED that the State Republican Executive Committee respectfully requests that Governor Greg Abbott veto Senate Bill 313; andBE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Governor, Lt. Governor, all Republican members of the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives.