Newly elected State Board of Education member Brandon Hall was sworn in on Saturday, telling his constituents that the parents will be in charge of SBOE District 11.
During the March Republican primary, Hall beat former SBOE 11 member Patricia Hardy. In the November General Election, he defeated Democrat challenger Rayna Glasser, earning 62 percent of the vote.
SBOE 11 covers all of Parker, Hood, and Somervell counties, most of Tarrant County, and parts of Dallas and Johnson counties.
The State Board of Education is responsible for setting policies and standards for Texas schools. This includes reviewing and adopting curriculum and establishing graduation requirements.
Hall said Texas lags near last in public education but should be first.
“This is the greatest state in the entire nation. We should be number one in education,” said Hall. “So the fight will not stop until Texas is number one in education. But when we look at the ranking of Texas and we lag behind all these other states, one thing is very clear, and that’s that what we are doing right now is not working.”
“There needs to be serious conservative reform in education. We need to get the woke garbage out of our schools,” Hall added.
In addition to his role on the SBOE, Hall said that if there were any problems in SBOE 11 school districts, he would be there to address them.
“If we have inappropriate materials in our schools, if we have indoctrination taking place, I will be at that school board. I will be talking to that superintendent. We will be addressing these issues because that’s what over half a million people have sent me into office to do, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Hall said.
Hall also addressed the high number of students who are not proficient in math or reading at grade level.
Last year it was revealed by district leaders that the Fort Worth Independent School District has a literacy crisis.
Additionally, a report from the nonprofit organization Fort Worth Education Partnership showed that students in both traditional and charter public schools in Fort Worth are not meeting grade-level standards. The report showed that overall, only 35 percent of students in grades three through eight perform at grade level. Fewer than half can read at grade level.
“It’s time to go back to the basics and back to the old-fashioned methods that work. And so that’s what I’m going to do now,” said Hall.
Hall also expressed his excitement about the SBOE working to improve charter schools, saying that he has visited many charter schools in the area and has seen children thriving in those environments.
“For too long in the state of Texas, some of those schools have not been approved for arbitrary reasons or because we don’t want them competing with other schools. I’m not concerned about competition. I’m concerned about students thriving, concerned about parents having options and choices because they know what’s best for their student, and not one way of knowing, one way of learning, is best for every single student,” Hall said.
Hall stated that his constituents will guide his voice on the board.
“I am your voice, and I am your representative. And we are going to finally reform Texas public education. We’re going to bring Texas to number one, and we’re going to fight every single day until our students are fully protected from indoctrination, and until they are thriving and getting the world-class education that they deserve,” Hall concluded.
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