So what does the Texas Education Code consists of?

Have you ever wondered what the Texas Education Code consists of? The following is the first section of the code for the required curriculum of grades K -12? I think you will find section a)-#2)- H) very interesting.

EDUCATION CODE

TITLE 2. PUBLIC EDUCATION

SUBTITLE F. CURRICULUM, PROGRAMS, AND SERVICES

CHAPTER 28. COURSES OF STUDY; ADVANCEMENT

SUBCHAPTER A. ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS; CURRICULUM

Sec. 28.001.  

PURPOSE. It is the intent of the legislature that the essential knowledge and skills developed by the State Board of Education under this subchapter shall require all students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to read, write, compute, problem solve, think critically, apply technology, and communicate across all subject areas. The essential knowledge and skills shall also prepare and enable all students to continue to learn in postsecondary educational, training, or employment settings.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995.

Sec. 28.002.  REQUIRED CURRICULUM. (a) Each school district that offers kindergarten through grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum:

(1)  a foundation curriculum that includes:
(A)  English language arts;
(B)  mathematics;
(C)  Science; and
(D)  social studies, consisting of Texas, United States, and world history, government, and geography; and

(2)  an enrichment curriculum that includes:
(A)  to the extent possible, languages other than English;
(B)  health, with emphasis on the importance of proper nutrition and exercise;
(C)  physical education;
(D)  fine arts;
(E)  economics, with emphasis on the free enterprise system and its benefits;
(F)  career and technology education;
(G)  technology applications; and
(H)  religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature.

For the full Education Code with all the amendments, revisions and additions please visit
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.28.htm#28.002

Please pass the information about my candidacy for the Texas State Board of Education, District 15 to your friends and family. Together we can ensure conservative values stay in our schools.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you!

Why am I running for the Texas State Board of Education?

Marty Rowley Marty Rowley
Many of you have asked me why I am running for this position.......

I think a big part of the answer is found in the quote of one observer who said, “Children make up one third of our population and ALL of our future.” There is no doubt that our future lies in the hands of the youth of today and the following are just a few of the reasons why I decided to run for the State Board of Education. 

• I have always believed in investing in the future of our kids and that is why I love working with the Maverick Boys and Girls Club. I am the incoming Board President and have coached basketball and baseball teams there over the last few years. I have also enjoyed serving as a President of the CareNet Pregnancy Centers; a place where the rights of unborn children are given such great value. 

• My own three children graduated from Texas public schools, I have seen firsthand how important college readiness is to graduating seniors and how crucial it is for our kids to be equipped to pursue higher degrees after secondary school. One study reveals that the average annual income for young people with a high school diploma is $27,000, while that same young person would make over $52,000 per year with a bachelors degree. 

•  Our children and grandchildren deserve a school system that will not only teach them how to read, write and count correctly, but will also teach them how to develop a value system that leads them to do the right thing and to make smart choices! Decision making is a crucial part of life, even at a young age. It is important to have a school system that will teach children the value of making value based decisions to further them in life. 

•  We need a well-reasoned conservative voice on the State Board of Education; someone who can bring people together towards a beneficial resolution. Over the last few years there has been way too much time, money, and effort wasted on lawsuits and internal disputes that have hindered the efforts to move forward towards resolving the problems that plague our schools. As an attorney and professional mediator, I am experienced in bringing complicated disputes to reasonable and acceptable outcomes, and I am ready to put that experience to work on the SBOE. 

•  Texas businesses rely on the Texas public school system to provide a first rate, qualified work force. If we are not able to provide effective and efficient public schools with less bureaucracy and more of a local voice, our businesses and our communities will suffer the consequences. A recent study I read said that if those kids who dropped out of Texas high schools would have graduated with the Class of 2007, they would have contributed an additional $32 billion to our state’s economy over the course of their lifetimes. That is the cost to Texas businesses if we don’t take proper care of our educational system, and that cost always inversely trickles down to the very youth that we need to help move forward. 

Over the next several weeks, I will release my full platform and vision for the State Board of Education. In the meantime, I hope this post will give you some additional insight into why this race is so important and why this is a job for someone who has the experience, skills, and conviction to bring needed change to our Texas school system.

MARTY ROWLEY KICKS-OFF REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN FOR STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Marty Rowley
Conservative Amarillo Attorney, Mediator and Community Leader seeks
newly drawn District 15 SBOE Seat

Amarillo, Texas—Surrounded by a large group of family, friends, and Republican activists, Amarillo attorney, mediator, and community leader, Marty Rowley formally kicked-off his Republican campaign for the newly drawn District 15 seat on the Texas State Board of Education. Rowley is seeking his party’s nomination in the March 6, Republican Primary.


In making his announcement, Rowley said he would bring a conservative approach that focuses on the needs of our children and the concerns of Texas taxpayers to the Texas State Board of Education, the state agency responsible for establishing policy and providing leadership for the Texas public school system.


Composed of 15 elected members, the State Board of Education adopts rules and establishes policies that govern a wide range of educational programs and services provided by Texas public schools. The commissioner of education serves as chief executive officer of the board and supervises the administration of board rules through the Texas Education Agency. Together the board, the commissioner, and the agency facilitate the operation of a vast public school system consisting of 1,237 school districts and charter schools, more than 8,400 campuses, more than 659,000 educators and other employees, and more than 4.8 million schoolchildren.


“As a certified, professional mediator, I believe have the unique ability to bring people together towards a beneficial resolution. As a concerned parent and citizen, I can directly relate to the millions of parents whose children’s futures depend upon the Texas public school system,” Rowley said.


Rowley said that he was accustomed to handling complex issues with intelligence, innovation and diplomacy, after spending over 20 years as a Board certified attorney, and seven years as a former pastor of an 8,000 member church. As the father of three children, all of whom graduated from Texas public schools, he said he knows the joys and frustrations that come with raising kids into responsible adults and knows full well the critical importance of resolving the challenges that face our schools and schoolchildren in the future.


Following the 2010 decennial census, the Texas Legislature redrew the fifteen State Board of Education Districts to accommodate the population shifts that had occurred during the previous ten years. District 15 now includes 77 West Texas, High Plains, and Panhandle counties and includes a population of almost 1.7 million Texans. Rowley said that he is a good fit for the sprawling district because has lived and worked in the district for most of his adult life and that it is where he raised his children. He said he would take his Republican campaign for the State Board of Education across the 15th district.


“Within those 77 counties are hundreds of school districts and campuses, thousands of teachers, and hundreds of thousands of Texas school children, who deserve a strong advocate fighting for their interests on the State Board of Education,” Rowley said. “So do the taxpayers who pay for our public school system. They too deserve a strong conservative voice that will fight for more local control, less bureaucracy and red tape, and for more accountability for our public schools,” Rowley added.


Having lived in Amarillo for almost 30 years, Rowley currently serves as President of the Maverick Boys and Girls Club of Amarillo. He has also served as the Governmental Affairs Chairman of the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce, was a member of the Citizens Budget Committee of Youth Programs for the United Way and is a Past President of the CareNet Pregnancy Centers of Amarillo and Canyon. He has been an Executive Committee Member of the Amarillo Bar Association, has been President of the West Texas Chapter of the American
Board of Trial Advocates and has served on the Northern District of Texas Civil Justice Advisory Committee.


Rowley earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Texas Tech School of Law, where he was on the 1982 National Championship Trial Advocacy Team. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Speech Communication from Eastern New Mexico University in 1979.


Rowley said that his he has a profound respect for those who have dedicated their careers to improving children’s lives through their work in the public schools. He said that his mother has served on her local school board for a record 27 years and that his two sisters and his sister-in- law are all public school teachers.


Rowley and his wife Cindy have been married for almost 30 years. Together, they are the parents of three children; Matthew, Michael and Theresa.