The Shift: The Political Moderation of The Texas State Board of Education, 2007-2019

Abstract

This study compares and contrasts the politics of the Texas State Board of Education from 2007 to 2019. Scholars and activists routinely claim that the SBOE has been a hotbed of conservative activism. However, this study argues that these detractors have missed a recent historical development: conservative Republicans on the Texas State Board of Education have politically shifted towards the center from 2007-2019. This can be demonstrated by examining state standards (“TEKS”) and textbooks (both of which have moderated); the professionalized temperament of the SBOE; the election of moderate Republicans and the defeat of more conservative Republican candidates and incumbents; the appointment of more moderate Republicans as Chairperson of the SBOE; and reduced number of news stories about the board (indicating less controversy). Indeed, despite activists’ protestations, a dispassionate examination will reveal that the SBOE has become relatively centrist. The main finding of this research is that the more conservative faction of the SBOE has, for a number of reasons and in a number of ways, moved to the political center. This has had the effect of distilling the moderate Republicans and Democrats from the more partisan factions in their respective parties. This historical development has further led to a phenomenon this author terms “compound moderation”: that is, the introduction of moderate Republican board members has resulted in the decline of one-party rule and has inaugurated a newfound relevance of coalitions, cyclically leading to even more moderation. What is remarkable is that this move towards the center has unfolded in a Republican state in the midst of very partisan times in American history.