This blog on Texas education contains posts on higher education, as well as preK-12 policy accountability, testing, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues at both the state and national level. It also represents my digital footprint, of life and career, as a community-engaged scholar in Texas.
The University of Texas at Austin has long prided itself on fostering an independent environment, where education and research are conducted without undue influence.
By entering into this compact, UT Austin risks compromising its autonomy, with possible shifts in its research agenda driven by federal directives rather than the intellectual curiosity and academic freedom that our institution has always championed. Federal funding often comes with strings attached, potentially limiting the university’s ability to conduct independent and unbiased research.
Not only does this decision set a dangerous precedent, but it also goes against the values that many of us, as proud graduates, hold dear. Academic independence is the cornerstone of a vibrant and effective educational institution. By compromising this independence, the administration may erode the trust and respect that the university has garnered over its illustrious history.
We, therefore, implore the UT Austin administration to reject signing on to this compact, ensuring that UT Austin can continue to lead in research and education without external pressures that may skew priorities.
Join us in this crucial call to action. Let’s protect the integrity of our alma mater. Sign this petition to urge UT Austin to reject the federal compact and commit to maintaining its cherished autonomy.
Do read and learn about the context within which we seek support for this American Indian/Native Studies petition for Texas Public, K-12 Schools.
This is part of the ongoing Ethnic Studies Movement in Texas. Please Sign and Share.
Angela Valenzuela
What happens in Texas public education impacts the rest of the United States because of the role the state plays in developing K-12 textbooks and instructional materials that get adopted in other parts of the US. Texas has also helped lead the nation in book-banning and censorship, all while severely under-funding public education. The state's hard turn toward academic censorship has now also impacted Ethnic Studies. Prior to 2024, Texas educators were well on their way to developing a complete roster of high school level Ethnic Studies courses, with record enrollment for the already adopted Mexican American and African American Studies courses. Since Governor Abbot appointed a new SBOE Chair in December of 2023, the process of Ethnic Studies course adoption has ground to a halt, with a ground-breaking course in American/Indian Studies being the first course to get side-lined in the process.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: SBOE Chair Kinsey did not add the AI/NS course to the June agenda. However, we still want him to add the course at the next available SBOE board meeting. Please sign this petition.
If you live in District 15, we encourage you to write and call Chair Kinsey. Check here to see if you live in Chair Kinsey's District, which includes cities such as Lubbock, Abilene, Odessa, Midland, and others.
How did we get here?
In 2018, the Texas State Board of Education called for the creation of four specific Ethnic Studies courses. "Native American Studies" was among them. In the summer of 2019, course developers began discussing the creation of Native Studies course at an Ethnic Studies regional gathering held at TCU. In the Spring of 2020, a committee of native community members and allies hosted a conversation hosted by Grand Prairie ISD to gather community feedback for a 10-12th grade course in American Indian/Native Studies. Grand Prairie ISD began piloting the course in 2021 and the Texas Education Agency approved the Innovative Course in the summer of 2023. The AI/NS course has now been piloted for three years and has been adopted in Robstown ISD, Crowley ISD, and is being considered by some other districts. SBOE board members and the public has had since June of 2023 to review the TEA-approved course and its recommended course materials. These materials are not part of the official TEKS adoption process.
The AI/NS course was slated to be heard for “First Reading” in January of 2024, but the item was mysteriously absent when the agenda was released on January 19. We learned later that new SBOE Board Chair, Aaron Kinsey, who was appointed by Governor Abbott in December of 2023, decided to pull the item to have more time to review the course. On February 2, Chair Kinsey stated that he would discuss the course with fellow SBOE members in February. During this time, more than 200 community members throughout Texas sent a total of more than 3 thousand emails to SBOE members, including Chair Kinsey, asking him to put the course back on the SBOE agenda for April of this year.
As the April SBOE meeting approached, there was very little indication that Chair Kinsey had used the extra time to discuss the course details with fellow board members, instead using that time to focus on the course's recommended course materials, which are not part of the official TEKS adoption process. By the end of March, he stated that the course had never been put on the April agenda and that the course was already available to students as an innovative course. Unfortunately, the current AI/NS Innovative course, expires after 2025 (confirmed on the TEA website), and there is no guarantee that the course will be renewed. If the SBOE does not review the course this year, Kinsey and the board will oversee the renewal process next year, but, if approved, this would only extend its innovative pilot status temporarily. This will create confusion and uncertainty for many districts in Texas. The course is running out of time. The course should be reviewed and adopted as soon as possible so that districts can have time to incorporate the course into their Fall 2025 calendars.
We continue to call on all Texas parents, educators, students, and community members to help get the American Indian/Native Studies course back on track for review and approval this year.
While we advocate for the TEKS-based course review process to be completed this year, districts can and should continue to offer the course in current and future academic years.
Districts do not have to wait for the Texas SBOE to approve the course in order to offer it.
Why should you support this course?
The Texas SBOE was one of the first state boards to adopt high-school level courses in Mexican American Studies in 2018 and an African American Studies course in 2020. Since the 2020-2021 school year, course enrollment has grown from 6,500 students for both classes combined to nearly 21,000 students in 2023 and 2024. MAS and AAS make up 25% of all Social Studies course electives. Both courses have been among the top 3 most popular Social Studies electives for the past 3 years with MAS being the most popular in recent years. Simply put, Texas students want Ethnic Studies in their schools.
A total of 74 tribal councils, organizations, churches, and elected officials have called on bringing the AI/NS Innovative course into the Social Studies TEKS by the end of 2024.
The following 20 tribal councils, departments, cultural organizations, and officials have reviewed the AI/NS Innovative course standards and endorsed the course as written. See the letters here.The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas The Citizen Potawatomi Nation The Comanche Nation The Society for Native Nations American Indians at the Spanish Colonial Missions The Indigenous Cultures Institute The Institute of Texan Cultures Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party TCU's Native and Indigenous Student Association UNT’s Native American Student Association UTA’s Native American Student Association Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry (TXUUJM) Lubbock Compact Foundation NAACP Lubbock Branch Mexican American Studies at Texas Tech University Southwestern University’s Education Department TCU’s Department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies Vikki Goodwin, Texas State Representative, District 47 Salman Bhojani, Texas State Representative , District 92 Perla Bojorquez, Democratic Nominee, Texas House of Representatives, District 93 James Talarico, Texas State Representative, District 50
For more than 40 years, Texas educators, parents, community members, and students have been calling on the Texas SBOE to create Ethnic Studies courses. In fact, the Texas SBOE has approved courses in Ethnic Studies since the late 1960s, only to fail to give them the needed support. Today, Texas students have voted with their feet and shown that they want Ethnic Studies in their high schools.
By approving the first American Indian/Native Studies course in Texas history, the Texas SBOE has the chance to not only make Texas proud. It has the chance to make history by acting differently than their predecessors have acted in the past.
If you would like to support the AI/NS course, please sign the petition below and share this petition with your family, friends, co-workers, and most active listservs.Who should sign this petition?
Texas communities need your help! Anyone in the US can sign this petition. Anyone who care about making native knowledge accessible to students in schools should sign the petition, including native people and allies from outside the US. If you are a member of a tribal community in the US or anywhere in the world, please note that when you sign the petition.What if I live in Texas or if Chair Kinsey is my SBOE Rep?
If you live in District 15 (Midland, Lubbock, etc.), WE NEED YOUR HELP to call and email Chair Kinsey! Visit this website to check if Chair Kinsey is your SBOE member.
If you live in Texas, you can also write and call Chair Kinsey. As a Texas tax-payer, the matter of what is included in the SBOE agenda impacts all Texans, including you.
Can organizations, associations, or academic units do anything to help?
If you are a member of or a leader in a community organization, educational or scholarly association, or academic program, please consider signing onto this organizational sign on letter.
Can tribal councils, community groups, or other elected officials do anything to help?
Absolutely! If you are a member of a tribal council, a community group, or are an elected official, you can review the course and draft an individual endorsement letter. Please email ethnicstudiesnetworkoftexas@gmail.com so that we can provide you with some support.
Local school districts and community members should know that the AI/NS Innovative course can be implemented at the district level in 2024-2025. This will help course creators renew the innovative course in 2025, should that be necessary, but in no way is innovative course status enough. The AI/NS course deserves a more stable place in the Social Studies TEKS-approved elective course roster. Either way, we encourage you to begin the process of local adoption now.
Contact information:
For questions about this petition or if you would like to write a letter of endorsement or support in other ways, please email the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas at ethnicstudiesnetworkoftexas@gmail.com.
To: The Texas State Board of Education From: [Your Name]
I stand in strong support of the American Indian/Native Studies innovative course as approved by the Texas Education Agency in the summer of 2023. I call on the Texas State Board of Education to place the AI/NS innovative course on the next available agenda so that it can be reviewed by SBOE members and adopted into the Social Studies TEKS by the end of 2024.
The AI/NS course is fair, rigorous, and balanced. The course standards are “high-quality” and are more than ready for the TEKS review process. The course is also “age-appropriate” as it would be available to students from 10th to 12th grade.
Native and Ethnic Studies communities in Texas strongly support the AI/NS innovative course as approved by the TEA in the summer of 2023. The course has gone through rigorous review and revision, including, two years under development at GPISD, a summer with the TEA’s own Social Studies TEKS Review Work Group E, two and a half years of a pilot at GPISD, and six months working with the TEA to arrive at the innovative course that is available for public view. In addition, Robstown ISD and Crowley ISD have adopted the innovative course, and Fort Worth ISD and several other districts are in the process of adopting the course as well. In August of 2023, the Curriculum of Instruction reviewed the course and voted to bring it to the full board for review. In November of 2023, then SBOE Board Chair Ellis expressed his intent to bring the course for review the following year without any objection.
The new SBOE Chair, Aaron Kinsey, appointed by Governor Abbott in December of 2023, did not bring the AI/NS course for review in January as expected. Instead, he asked for more time to review the course himself, a step that replicates the work already done by the Curriculum of Instruction in August of 2023. Additionally, SBOE reps have had since June of 2023 to review the course if they had any concerns.
The AI/NS course was not added to the April or June 2024 SBOE agenda. For this reason, we call for the following:
1) We call on SBOE Chair Kinsey to bring the AI/NS innovative course for “First Reading” at the next available SBOE board meeting. The course is fair, balanced, and of "high quality." It is ready to review.
2) We call on SBOE board members to engage in a good faith review of the course that honors the field and tradition of American Indian/Native Studies and engages with Native scholars and knowledge-keepers. AI/NS scholars, educators, and community members stand at the ready to help address any concerns that may arise during the review process. For this to be possible, however, the course has to be brought to “First Reading.”
3) We call on the Texas SBOE to work together to complete the review and adoption process in time for the course to be added to the Social Studies TEKS-based catalogue by the end of 2024.
The Texas State Board of Education has a history of leadership when it comes to Ethnic Studies. The Texas SBOE made Texas the first state in the nation to adopt a secondary level Mexican American Studies (MAS) course in 2018 and, in 2020, unanimously approved an African American Studies (AAS) course. Since then, course enrollment for MAS and AAS grew to nearly 6,500 students during the 2020-2021 school year. Just two years later, and despite going through a major pandemic, Ethnic Studies course enrollment is up nearly 300%, with close to 18,000 students enrolled in a TEKS-based MAS or AAS course during the 2022-2023 school year (Source: TEA).
Simply put, Texas students want Ethnic Studies in their schools.
Students take and complete these courses for good reason. Academic and empirical studies have shown that Ethnic Studies courses can improve school attendance, raise academic interest, and elevate academic achievement across multiple subject areas (Cabrera et tal 2012; Penner and Dee 2017).
Thousands of hours of volunteer and TEA staff time have gone into developing the AI/NS innovative course. More than 1000 Texans want this course to be available to their students.
Let’s make Texas proud. Let’s honor our history. Let’s honor the history of American Indian and Native people in Texas. Let’s make American Indian/Native Studies available to all Texas high school students who would like the opportunity to take the course.
Sincerely,By signing this petition, you are agreeing to be added to the ESNTX email supporter list so that you can receive further information about this campaign and future matters related to Ethnic Studies in Texas. Once subscribed, you can edit your preferences.
It's hard to be a blogger in these times and not comment on the Middle East so here are a few thoughts. I think we should all heed Jordan's ambassador to the U.S. Dina Kawar's words for "strategic" thought and action, particularly in the absence of humanitarian feelings or a moral compass.
Common ground is a call for peace.
Hence, the only way to be for both Palestinians and Israelis is to call for a ceasefire of the kind that takes leaders back to the negotiating table.
We should be additionally haunted and forewarned by Kawar's wise words that, in effect, Netanyahu is only re-creating Hamas when considering that a majority of Hamas fighters today are themselves already orphans.
An additional 18,000 orphaned children and counting, will ultimately only find a home among other similarly orphaned children and youth, spelling ever-more trouble for Israel in the near and distant future—and just as importantly, to Gaza. Why add to that count by bombing indiscriminately?
ceasefire and that there are organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace at national and local levels like Jewish Voice for Peace Austin that are calling for a ceasefire and asked via petition for Jews and allies to sign-on for peace on their Facebook page, as well.
Those of us grieving both Israeli and Palestinian loved ones this week know there is no military solution. The only future is peace and safety for all – grounded in freedom, justice, and equality.
Half of Gaza’s population are children. They have nowhere to flee to. The Israeli government has trapped them in Gaza and cut their water, food, and electricity. It is starving them while bombing their neighborhoods one after another.
Join us – American Jews and allies – in demanding the Biden administration facilitate an immediate ceasefire, and stop sending the Israeli military more weapons.
This ad already appeared in the New York Times. There is still time to sign. I just did. Not sure whether a two-state solution is where this is all headed or something else. What we do know is that before any policy solution can occur, a ceasefire must be in place. Not a "pause" or "pauses," but a ceasefire with all the hostages, civilians, and detainees on both sides returned.
Thanks to Gary Bledsoe for sharing this insightful peace.
NOVEMBER 19, 2023 / 1:27 PM EST/ CBS NEWSWashington — Jordan's ambassador to the U.S. said her country is calling for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas because her country's leaders believe the conflict will fuel radicalism.
Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar told "Face the Nation" on Sunday that up to 18,000 children could be orphaned from the war in Gaza.
"What do we do with that?" she asked. "Some studies have shown that some of the Hamas — the majority of Hamas fighters were orphans. Our call here is for a cease-fire. … Not because we want to think differently from the rest of the world, but because we feel that with the Arab countries and with Islamic countries, this is the only way forward to stop this war and to sit around the table and go back to negotiations."
Kawar also questioned the strategy behind the Israeli military ordering civilians in Gaza to evacuate the northern half of the territory as it prepared for a ground invasion in the days after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants. In recent days, Israel has told Palestinians to leave parts of southern Gaza.
"These displaced people were asked to leave the north in no time to go to the south, and now they're asked to leave the south. Didn't didn't anybody think that if Hamas is in the north, they would go to the south?" Kawar said. "Our worry is that this violence is going just to breed violence and it's putting pressure in the region. And if we cannot talk to the moral compass of the world, nor to the humanitarian feelings, let's talk strategic thinking."
Jordan's King Abdullah has criticized the Israeli offensive, calling on the international community to push for an immediate cease-fire to end the killing of innocent Palestinians and allow humanitarian aid into the region.
U.S. officials have said anything more than a temporary cease-fire to allow for the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid would empower Hamas, while Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas.
"It is putting a lot of pressure on His Majesty, on the government because people are angry," Kawar said of whether the war could destabilize relations between Jordan and Israel. "They see the images every day. I mean, we're all angry. It's very humiliating. It's very hurtful and it's inhuman. And we're just wondering how far is this going to go? We're calling for a cease-fire. We're calling to go back to negotiations."
Thank you for 30K Signatures! Help Us Save Tenure, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion!
We're thrilled to share that we've reached an amazing milestone: 30,000 signatures on our Fight for DEI petition! Your support has been incredible, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing partners, including BBDP NextGen, Texas LULAC, National LULAC, the Texas NAACP, The Texas Black Legislative Caucus, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Texas AAUP, the Pro-Truth Faculty, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, the Ethnic Studies Coalition of Texas, the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (comprised of over 35 organizations), the Texas Association for Mexican American Chambers of Commerce, the Texas Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the Texas Association for Chicanos in Higher Education, the Latino Texas Policy Center, the Mexican American School Board Association, and the many educators, students, and volunteers that care. But our mission isn't over yet as the House Higher Education Committee is likely voting on Senate Bill 17 (SB 17) as early as tomorrow,Friday, May 12th . Besides signing, do reach out to these offices listed below to register your concerns about SB 17 that brings down everything DEI in all Texas colleges and universities.
Speaker of the House, Representative Dade Phelan: (512) 463-1000
Representative Travis Clardy (512) 463-0592
Representative John Kuempel: (512) 463-0602
Representative John Raney: (512) 463-0698
You may also submit written testimony at this link.
Additional ways that you can contribute:
Share, Share, Share! Spread the word about our petition far and wide. Your shares are crucial in amplifying our message and reaching more people.
Keep Signing Up! Encourage others to add their names to the petition. Every signature brings us closer to protecting tenure, education, and diversity.
Engage in Dialogue! Foster conversations about the importance of DEI. Share your stories and inspire change within your community.
Stay Informed! Educate yourself on the issues at hand. Knowledge empowers us to advocate effectively.
Together, we can make a difference! Sign the petition, share our message, and stand with us in the fight for DEI!
-Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., co-founder
(with civil rights attorney Gary Bledsoe, Esq. and Colette Phillips)
