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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

Important! Support New Curriculum

Returning Texas to Traditional Schooling!

Please send electronic testimony to the State Board of Education

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ask them to: “Please adopt HB1605 curriculum without any amendments.”

Deadline for electronic testimony is 5:00 pm on Friday, September 6.​ 

(Please share this email and urge others to send their testimony.)

Amplify (CKLA) is a NATIONAL product which has nothing to do with Texas and is not aligned with Texas curriculum standards (TEKS). In response to COVID school shutdown, TEA issued an emergency Request for Proposal (RFP) and contracted with six of the respondents. They were tasked with providing content aligned with TEKS for K-5 English Language Arts Reading (ELAR) and Math that could be used remotely, in-person, or hybrid. Turnaround was short because of the school emergency, so review and revision was ongoing which can be found in Amplify ELAR Texas, Editions #1-4. Based on further feedback, TEA determined far greater changes were needed and issued another RFP with the contract going to Florida-based Public Consulting Group (PCG). A vastly different curriculum was provided -- TEA Open Education Resources (OER) Edition #1. (See lessons at this link). It is aligned 100% with the standards and must be approved by the SBOE prior to its use. Review and revision will be ongoing; in the near future, the name will be changed to distinguish it from any previous version and from Amplify. 

TEA OER is not aligned with UNESCO, the U.N., Common Core, or the Every Student Succeeds Act. “Open Resources” is a common tech industry term. Teachers have used open resources for decades. Texas schools have been using unapproved open education resources for more than a dozen years. Under Texas SB 6 (2011), the SBOE was stripped of control over content; only 50% of content had to be aligned with the standards. Publishers were heavily influenced by teacher unions so textbooks were filled with academic content fused with Common Core, social justice, LGBT, Critical Race Theory, and wokeism. Under SB 6, schools can spend state tax money for non-SBOE approved materials. District use of state funding for SBOE-unapproved technological products, especially online learning, literally exploded after 2011. This began the shift away from textbooks to online learning and wide use of SBOE unapproved open resources. Since 2011, NAEP math and reading scores have declined in Texas. Extensive research shows digital learning has been a causal factor for the decline, especially in reading. 

Texas HB 1605 is highly important for several reasons. (HB 1605 link.) The three-cueing word guessing game (whole language) is banned and phonics and cursive writing are “in.” The SBOE has the authority to require 100% alignment with the standards, effectively getting rid of “wokeism.” To see what their children are learning -- and how their tax money is being spent -- parents can login to a portal to view the lessons. Although available digitally, the curriculum is designed to be printed. Districts are incentivized to use TEA OER rather than unapproved materials at taxpayer expense under SB 6. 

By Carole Hornsby Haynes

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1 State Could Lead the Way in Returning to Traditional Schooling

By Carole Hornsby Haynes           August 29, 2024     Published by World Net Daily

Vowing to “take back education” from the communism that has infiltrated since the late 1950s, parents across the country have organized. Where to start? Since dumbing down students was a key step in the 45 communist goals, tossing out socialist education and replacing it with traditional, classic learning is a critical first step. Texas has the solution with its new TEA Open Education Resources (OER) for K-5 Reading Language Arts (RLA) and K-9 Math that return to hard-copy instead of digital lessons. 

(Disclosure: I served as expert reviewer for OER-RLA.) Lessons in reading and phonics are taught through age appropriate, highly interesting stories in history, literature, the arts, and culture along with religion as a foundational tool for history and literature. 

Nationwide, current public school curricula subversivelyinclude communist goals: dumb down the curriculum; present homosexuality, obscenity, and pornography as being normal; discredit the family; ban all religious expression in schools that supposedly violates the principle of ‘separation of church and state;’ discredit the Founding Fathers and the Constitution; discourage the teaching of American history; eliminate all good art and sculpture; and discredit American culture. 

The TEA OER eliminates all radical ideology designed to undermine natural law, separate families, and reshape societal values and returns public education to rigorous academic learning. 

If OER is adopted by the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), billions will be lost by bottom feeders preying on children and the public school system: highly paid district and local staff administering the SEL and LGBT programs, doctors surgically removing young body parts, and Big Pharma’s puberty blockers and lifetime drugs for mentally deranged students. Fewer computers could be used in traditional classrooms, so EdTech could see less taxpayer money in their coffers. Powerful teacher unions will lose control of the classroom. With people no longer indoctrinated and dumbed down, and those who seek control and power will have difficulty controlling a well-educated citzenry.

In a CBS 5 news report, a distinguished political science professor from Rice University insisted the curriculum violates the “separation clause” of the Constitution except, of course, there is no such clause. What is banned is an official government supported church. 

Some claim that Christian Nationalism is unconstitutionally incorporated into the curriculum. This term, used mostly to smear conservative Christians who defend the role of religion in American public life, is the latest communist strategy to divide and brainwash Christians. This is an attempt to silence those who oppose open borders, same-sex marriage, males in female locker rooms, abortion, or trangenderism. 

Some demand that other religions get equal representation in the lessons. Why should they? Our founding documents are based on Judeo-Christian principles. Students learn the basis for the principle, “all men are created equal,” found in our Declaration of Independence is related to the Magna Carta which is related to the most famous sermon in the world, the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. Students learn why the Sermon on the Mount is the primary building block of our Western Civilization. They learn the values and principles leading to the English colonization of North America, our founding, and the way our government was designed to function. Students learn that, regardless of what is being bandied about, America is not a democracy but a Constitutional Republic with a representative democracy system of governance. 

It is important for students to become biblically literate because the Bible is the most widely read book in the world. With the Church being such a powerful influence throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, many references to Christianity and the Bible are found in history and literature. Religious context is needed so students will undertand literary references and historical events. 

Do we really believe that countries where Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, or Islam are predominant will allow Christianity to be included in their school curriculum? Why should America cave to the progressive socialist left that wants to annihilate the Christian religion to pave the way for a totalitarian government?

This nation is being hollowed out through the destruction of our Christian morality. No amount of money or security guards will keep our schools safe from mentally ill shooters. There will be violence until we instill moral values and positive character traits in our young so they understand love toward others and oneself and learn self-control. OER RLA do this through classroom activities and stories about the Golden Rule, the Good Samaritan, and the Sermon on the Mount where children learn how to be good neighbors and the civilized way to treat others. We will see more mentally healthy children as schools abandon radical sex lessons that lead a child down a dark path toward confusion and mental instability and, instead, teach the moral lessons in OER. 

At one time American students were the most creative in the world because of what and how they were taught. As a result, America became the leader of the world with millions of inventions, making us the richest nation on earth. America is no longer a nation of brilliant inventors; in fact, the low literacy level of our adults is costing our economy $2.2 trillion a year. OER takes us to yesteryear with lessons that teach creativity and critical thinking. There is even a fantastic unit on becoming an inventor. With whole language and digital learning out and phonics and cursive writing back in, reading comprehension will improve. With highly literate workers, America can become competitive in the global market once again. 

While progressive education seeks to discredit and eradicate all memory of the high level of culture of Western civilization, OER RLA presents many short stories about the Middle Ages including the building of magnificent cathedrals, artistic masters – including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and Shakespeare -- the Renaissance, and the history of Western Culture. 

Although many parents are pulling their children out of public schools, many will not. If school districts continue the use of radical ideological materials, they will educate more America-hating, illiterate, deranged socialists who shoot up schools – and create more hostility toward public education. Districts may not have a choice about whether to use the new academic curriculum if they want to retain students and funding. As districts adopt the SBOE-approved OER, Texans will begin to see an upward swing in academic achievement and mentally healthy students capable of self governance.

The good news is that this outstanding curriculum is free to download and use by anyone, including homeschoolers and other states. As Texas goes, so goes the nation.

1 State Could Lead the Way in Returning to Traditional Schooling

By Carole Hornsby Haynes       August 29, 2024          Published by World Net Daily

Vowing to “take back education” from the communism that has infiltrated since the late 1950s, parents across the country have organized. Where to start? Since dumbing down students was a key step in the 45 communist goals, tossing out socialist education and replacing it with traditional, classic learning is a critical first step. Texas has the solution with its new TEA Open Education Resources (OER) for K-5 Reading Language Arts (RLA) and K-9 Math that return to hard-copy instead of digital lessons.

Our Existential Crisis

By Carole Hornsby Haynes     August 27, 2024      Published by American Thinker 

Once America had the world’s best educated workforce. Today our average American high school graduates are two-and-a-half years behind those in top-performing countries. The curriculum of our colleges is at the level of high schools in top-performing countries. 

From Republic to Tyrannical Democracy?

By Carole Hornsby Haynes      August 11, 2024       First published in American Thinker  

America is in a crisis. From a Constitutional Republic and limited government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, America has now disintegrated into a state of chaos, violence, murder, corruption, indebtedness, and internal division that threatens to rip the nation asunder. Where does the blame lie? 

The End Game of the Left’s War On Christianity

Carole Hornsby Haynes      April 15, 2023 

Criminal acts against Christian churches have been steadily on the rise for the past several years.  A report by the Family Research Council found that 29 states experienced arsons,bomb threats, vandalism, sacrilege, and assaults against churches. Many Americans are perplexed about why there is so much hostility and violence against Christianity given that it influenced the founding of America and has been profoundly influential in our nation’s history and culture. 

Texas HB 1605 Kicks Indoctrination Out, Returns Control to SBOE and Parents

By Carole Hornsby Haynes July 7, 2023

Across the nation parents, angry over ideological indoctrination, are demanding transparency and control over what their children are learning. In Texas, the passage of HB 1605 does just that.

Marxists, Conservatives, and Neocons

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. August 31, 2020   Published in Abbeville Institute

Reading an article in the latest Hillsdale College newsletter Impris, I was shocked by the outrageous comparison of Lebron James and Colin Kaepernick with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson as men fighting to “divide the nation.”

Fire Destroys Historic Dallas Church of Pro-Trump Pastor

By Carole Hornsby Haynes       July 21, 2024

Speculation about the cause of the four alarm fire at a prominent Dallas church led by Trump supporter, Dr. Robert Jeffress, began circulating wildly even as the blaze sent thick black clouds of smoke throughout downtown Dallas and miles beyond. (see video)

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