Originally posted at http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html

Segment 1: On a 7-6 vote the State Board of Education approved a plan to spend $100 million from the Permanent School Fund to buy real estate for the charter schools. The charter schools would pay rent back to the state. State Board of Education candidate Michael Soto calls the program a bad idea.

Listen to the interview here.

Originally posted at http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=29859

Jul 26th, 2010 by Charles Kuffner.

It’s time to start up the interview machine again, as election season will be on us before you know it. (Fun fact: We’re less than 90 days out from the start of early voting.) I’ve got a trio of SBOE candidates to get things started, beginning with Michael Soto, the Democratic candidate for SBOE in District 3, which is primarily San Antonio and points south. Soto is a professor of English at my alma mater and is running to replace the unreliable Democratic incumbent, Rick Agosto. Here's the interview.

Originally posted at http://www.americanindependent.com/tx-november-voters-will-choose-two-or-three-new-sboe-members/

By Mary Tuma | 07.20.10 | 2:54 pm

Comments Share The greater Austin and San Antonio regions play host to three contested races in November for the 15-member State Board of Education. Going into the general, the ultra-conservative bloc on the board has lost two of seven members, plus a pivotal Democratic swing vote.

In north Austin, a tea party Republican takes on a Democrat (both are educators) to replace a retiring incumbent. In south Austin/north San Antonio, a Democratic professor is challenging a socially conservative GOP incumbent. In south San Antonio, a Democrat and Republican vie to replace the board’s wild-card voter.

...

District 3

The conservative Republican bloc routinely counted on Democrat Rick Agosto of San Antonio to act as a swing vote on religiously charged issues. His exit from the board is an opportunity for Democrats to further dilute the bloc’s power.

In the running for Agosto’s seat are Democrat Michael Soto, who has about $11,400 in cash, and Republican Tony Cunningham, whose campaign has no money. Since the district (which includes southern Bexar County and stretches south toward the boarder) typically trends Democratic, Soto, a university professor, is likely to replace Agosto.

Soto put to rest any speculation that he will follow Agosto’s unpredictable voting pattern.

“I will certainly not be a vote that the right-wing radicals can count on,” he said. “They have hijacked the state board and put their partisan political interests in front and center. If it had been up to me, I would have voted very differently when it came to language arts standards and pressed for a different approach to science. If elected, I hope to have a positive impact on the disastrous social studies standards and do everything in my power to fix the problems."

Originally posted at http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2010/04/professor_says.html

Some of the proposed social studies standards were plagiarized, Trinity University Professor Michael Soto told Texas lawmakers.

Soto gave a detailed report on the standards that propose to teach Texas children about "American exceptionalism" - the concept that American values are different and unique from those of other nations.

It's an important concept in American intellectual history but one that's mishandled by the proposed standards, said Soto, who is the Democrat candidate for the State Board of Education seat of retiring member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio.

The proposed standard on "American exceptionalism" was plagiarized from a UCLA graduate school of education website and other parts were lifted "almost verbatim from Wikipedia," he said.

"If one of my Trinity University students handed in this work, he or she would receive a 'D' for the quality of ideas and an 'F' for academic dishonesty," Soto told lawmakers. "Let me be absolutely clear for the public record: The social studies TEKS are plagiarized work. Can we all agree that Texas kids deserve better than this? Shouldn't the State Board of Education be held to a higher standard?"

Posted by Gary Scharrer at April 28, 2010 11:37 AM

Perhaps because I grew up an awkwardly lanky Little League pitcher, one of my childhood heroes was J.R. Richard, the improbably tall Houston Astros ace who was close to unhittable during his prime. Nothing could convince me to trade my J.R. Richard baseball card.

Not a championship season Willie Stargell card.

Not a mint condition Pete Rose rookie card.

Not even an autographed Roger Staubach card. (The Cowboys legend was another hero, so mixing baseball with football doesn't tarnish my logic too much.)

Would I part with J.R. Richard for Stargell, Rose, and Staubach? It's just a card, right?

Wrong.

Anyone who grew up loving baseball knows that a card isn't just a card. And what's true of recent sports history is truer still of America's intricate and splendid past.

The ongoing debate surrounding social studies standards in Texas public schools too often sounds like an unfunny parody of baseball card trading done by bratty kids who never really played the game.

When, for example, so-called social studies expert Peter Marshall declared last spring that "to have César Chávez listed next to Ben Franklin is ludicrous," he revealed the simplistic give-and-take mentality that too often passes for historical reflection: I'll give you César Chávez if you give me Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson Davis.

How dare anyone tell my son and his fellow Texas public schoolmates that César Chávez doesn't deserve their rapt attention?

Just as important: How dare anyone cheapen history by mistaking a list of names for unforgettable encounters between great persons and challenging times?

This week, the State Board of Education will revise the Texas social studies standards (the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies) that will define learning in Texas public schools for the next decade. This occasion presents the perfect opportunity for clearheaded leaders to rise above the shortsighted politicization of the Texas public school curriculum. I hope that all participants keep in sharp focus the real needs of Texas schoolchildren, including the priceless gift of wonder that waits in store when history unfolds in all its vexed glory, rather than mount their political hobby horses.

No matter what the State Board decides, my son will learn about Chávez's legendary courage in the face of great danger and even greater odds. He'll learn about the rich tradition of non-violent resistance to tyranny that animated Chávez's actions, a lineage that stretches back in time from Chávez to Gandhi to Thoreau to Christ. He'll also learn about Chávez's shortcomings, the intellectual roadblocks that sometimes stood in the way of lasting workplace reform.

My son will learn about the spirit and wisdom and even about the humanizing folly of Benjamin Franklin.

My son will learn that, just as it is appropriate to look up to Chávez and Franklin, it is also right to view the example of Jefferson Davis with deep suspicion.

Most of all, he'll learn that history is far more exciting, and infinitely more rewarding, than a list of names.

He'll learn all of these things at home and, I sincerely hope, at his public school. After all, doesn't every Texas public schoolchild deserve the gift of wonder?

Michael Soto, associate professor of English at Trinity University, is the Democratic Party candidate for the State Board of Education in District 3.

Public school parent and college professor Michael Soto announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination to represent Bexar County and deep South Texas on the State Board of Education in District 3. With his family at his side, Soto made the announcement before a crowd of supporters.

“I’m deeply troubled by the direction taken by the State Board in recent years, but I’m also quite optimistic about what’s possible in Texas public education,” said Soto. “There are exciting things going on at all levels of governance and the State Board can and must be a part of this larger movement to transform public education. I envision a State Board that creates exciting opportunities for students and school districts and that restores public trust in how our schools are run.”

Joining Soto for his announcement were State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer; newly appointed Alamo Colleges Board Member Blakely Fernandez; and Soto’s campaign treasurer, Colleen Casey. The kick-off reception was hosted by Dr. Joe Bernal and Mary Esther Bernal, Charles Butt, Dr. Antonia Castañeda, Blakely Fernandez, Dr. Arturo Madrid, John Montford, Debra Salge, Susan Smith and Tommy Smith, and José Villarreal and Maria Villarreal.

Also on hand in the audience were current and former state and local officials, community leaders, and numerous public school parents and advocates.

“As a college professor, Michael has the right tools to get the job done, and get it done well,” stated Martinez Fischer. “And he’s got the right heart to put aside politics in favor of what’s in the best interests of Texas kids and schools.”

After attending public schools in Brownsville ISD throughout his childhood, Soto received a B.A. degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. He is presently associate professor of English and director of the McNair Scholars Program at Trinity University. He is married to Celina Peña and their son is a first grade student in San Antonio ISD.

The counties in SBOE District 3 are Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Brooks, Duval, Frio, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Karnes, Live Oak, McMullen, Medina, and Wilson.

Michael Soto, the willowy, curly-haired candidate for the State Board of Education District 3, officially launched his campaign the night of December 1 with a high-caliber host committee that included grocery magnate Charles Butt, a supporter of the Texas Freedom Foundation and a financial factor a few years back in the surprise win of former State Representative Juan Garcia; former State Senator John Montford, whose resume reads like any three overachievers’ CVs combined; and the Honorables Mary Esther and Joe Bernal.

Soto, whose run last spring for the San Antonio Independent School District’s board was derailed by a certain former SA mayor, says he was reluctant at first to jump into another race so soon. “But the more thought I gave to it, the more upset I became with the current state of affairs,” he said. “For too long the [SBOE] has been out of touch with the population of public-school students.” He mentioned the heated battle over the language-arts curriculum (“they disregarded three years of expert work and decided to play politics”), although he might as well have mentioned the recent wrangling over opening the door to intelligent design in the science curriculum, or diversity in the social-studies curriculum’s cast of historical characters. Of intelligent design, Soto says, “I suppose it makes sense to talk about it in a civics class, but it doesn’t belong in a science classroom.”

A native of the Valley, Soto has been a professor at Trinity University for more than a decade (he specializes in 20th Century American Lit), and is the father of a first grader. Perhaps a lesser-known achievement: For a short period during the George W. Bush administration, he channeled the spirit of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s inner Chicano activist for a series of Current Last Words memos. If Soto takes the SBOE seat, the QueQue will compile a special edition of his pieces in his honor.

District 3 represents the lower half of Bexar County on the 15-member elected board. Outgoing incumbent Rick Agosto characterizes the job as “Strap yourself onto a lightning rod and go into an electrical storm.

“Elected officials are basically writing a curriculum for Texas, which can influence much of what’s being read and studied in most of the United States for the next 10 years.”

But, Agosto says, “The most important job we have is protecting the investment of the Permanent School Fund,” the 150-year-old land bank that pays for those controversial textbooks.

The filing deadline is January 5. Soto he says he hopes to use the campaign “to inform people about the SBOE and how important it is to be involved in the process.”

Trinity professor to run for Education Board seat Agosto will leave

By Kate Alexander
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, November 06, 2009

State Board of Education member Rick Agosto will not seek re-election next year, he said.

Trinity University literature professor Michael Soto, 39, announced Thursday that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination for District 3, which stretches south from San Antonio to the border.

Several top Democratic Party leaders from San Antonio, including state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte and former State Board of Education member Joe Bernal, are backing Soto.

Agosto, who was first elected in 2006, said he needs to spend more time with his family and investment business.

"I've enjoyed my time there, but being a state board member basically can be a full-time job," Agosto said.

Agosto has been the subject of several recent newspaper stories about his business relationships with companies vying for contracts with the board. He has denied any wrongdoing and attributes the criticism to political backbiting on the board.

Agosto said his re-election decision is not related to this scrutiny.

Bernal, who backed Agosto in 2006, said Agosto's biggest problem was that he had drawn the ire of teacher groups for his votes on some curriculum issues, and that would have made it difficult for him to compete against Soto.

Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association said Agosto "would not have had friendly-incumbent status," though the organization had not yet made a decision on who to support in the race.

Soto, who has a first-grader in public school and another child due in March, said that as a father he has developed a "profound reservoir of righteous anger" over several state board curriculum decisions.

"I'm simply tired of being angry at the State Board of Education, and I want to do what I can to fix it," said Soto, an expert in 20th-century literary movements.

With Agosto, he said, "there has been a vacuum when it comes to anyone standing up and saying enough is enough."

Van de Putte said she was delighted that someone with Soto's qualifications would run for the board.

Several other sitting board members have drawn serious primary challengers.

Bryan Republican Don McLeroy will have to defend his seat from Thomas Ratliff, a lobbyist and son of former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff.

Board Members Ken Mercer and Cynthia Dunbar, two Republicans who represent parts of Austin, also have primary challengers.

Dropping off my son at school — he's a first-grader at Hawthorne Academy in the San Antonio ISD, a campus that's served generations since 1923 — transports me to another time: The high ceilings, the heavy sash windows, the small desks, and most of all the beaming teacher take me back to my 1970s youth in Brownsville.

For most San Antonio 5-year-olds, this week marks the beginning of kindergarten and the start of an academic career in the Texas public school system. It's a week of brilliant promise and not a few tears, of trepidation mixed with hopes and dreams.

But if our public schools don't change — dramatically so and quickly — then too many among this fresh-faced bunch of 5-year-olds will be left behind by a system that's well-equipped with rhetoric yet woefully short of results.

Urban, predominantly Latino schools like those found in San Antonio have fared especially poorly of late. According to the Texas Education Agency's misleadingly chipper statistics, only 76 percent of the San Antonio Independent School District Class of 2005 earned a high school diploma.

Last fall, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project — using Christopher B. Swanson's Cumulative Promotion Index, widely viewed as the most accurate measure of real-world graduation rates — reported that the number of SAISD students who completed a high school degree is actually closer to 52 percent.

By either account, we are all failing San Antonio's children and it will take an assiduous, sustained and, most of all, collective effort to address their educational needs as individuals and to address our civic and leadership needs as a society.

No one would begrudge a 5-year-old child the time, energy and financial resources needed to succeed in kindergarten. That's precisely the kind of investment that all of our kids, from five 5 to 15 and well beyond, require.

Teachers and administrators, of course, have much to contribute to our children's educational success, but at the beginning of this school year we'd like to suggest three ways you might get involved.

First, if you are part of a local business (from a mom-and-pop store to a multimillion-dollar enterprise) or a community organization (from a church to a neighborhood crime watch or a political interest group), take some time to explore how you might alter the culture and thinking of low-income neighborhoods, build community vision and engage youths and their families in reconstructing their perspectives regarding education and its value to their future success.

Simple incentives — a free meal for a month's perfect attendance or financial support for a summer enrichment program — can go a long way. The important thing is to get students, families and institutions involved in a community effort, to initiate dialogue and produce trust and momentum.

Second, encourage school administrators and teachers to build strong, positive relations with low-income and immigrant families to address their concerns and creativities. This will require the simultaneous cultivation of students' and parents' organizational abilities — leadership training for the entire family — and a coordinated array of community-based organizations collaborating with schools and families directly. Traditional barriers to educational success must be seen not as excuses, but as challenges to face head-on and opportunities to enrich lives.

Third, be prepared to hold leaders accountable in public forums and at the ballot box. At the same time, recognize that the path to increased educational access and improved educational outcomes is long and sometimes thorny; when leaders speak candidly and make tough decisions, offer your vocal support.

To the proud parents of the newest kindergarten class, we say congratulations and best wishes. Like you, we truly believe that your daughter or son was meant to change the world for the better, and we want you to beam with pride as he or she crosses the stage, high school diploma in hand, in 13 short years. We hope that your child ponders not whether to go to college, but where.

Together let's change the world one school district, one neighborhood, one school, one classroom — one kindergartener — at a time.