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.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378)

San Antonio, Texas - June 23, 2010

Statement by Michael Soto, Democratic Party nominee for the State Board of Education in District 3:

I strongly disagree with today's decision by the State Board of Education to spend valuable public school resources for a government-subsidized real estate scheme that may or may not benefit Texas charter school students.

The scheme is ill-conceived and contradicts the best advice of investment professionals, state legislators, legal experts, and education policy researchers. There is a strong possibility that this real estate scheme falls short of the Texas Constitutional requirement that Permanent School Fund investments prudently balance risk and reward. It certainly defies free-market principles.

Permanent School Fund oversight is one of the SBOE's most important duties. Allocating public school funds in this reckless way shortchanges Texas taxpayers and Texas children.

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 lives in San Antonio with his wife Celina Peña and their sons Alejo (a second-grade student in the San Antonio ISD) and newborn Américo.

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

###

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."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org)

San Antonio, Texas - May 21, 2010 -

Whenever the State Board of Education revises the public school curriculum standards, the new standards should be clear, rigorous, and flexible enough to allow for classroom innovation. Unfortunately, the Social Studies TEKS just approved by the SBOE meet none of these objectives.

Instead, the new Social Studies TEKS offer:

• a cumbersome list of names and dates that will stifle creativity and encourage "teaching to the test";
• individual standards that favor political posturing over sound scholarship;
• individual standards that are virtually unteachable in a real-world classroom environment because they are incoherent or hopelessly vague; and
• individual standards that are plagiarized from dubious sources.

If one of my Trinity University students handed in this work, then he or she would receive a D for the quality of ideas and an F for academic dishonesty. Texas schoolchildren deserve a first-class education, not plagiarism or politics-as-usual from the SBOE.

Throughout my campaign and, should I be elected, once I am seated in public office, I will consult with concerned parents, teachers, scholars, community and business leaders, and textbook publishers. Together we can and will work to identify and correct the errors that were incorporated into Texas' new Social Studies TEKS.

As a member of the State Board, I will work tirelessly to repeal and revise the the Social Studies TEKS so that our schools position Texas students for college and career success. And I will insist that social studies textbooks are based on sound scholarship; they must reflect the rich diversity of Texas and U.S. society as well as the intricate and splendid past that is Texas and U.S. history.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 19 May 2010
CONTACT: Kirsten Gray (512) 478-9800, (512) 809-2459

CANDIDATES TO SBOE: PUT OUR KIDS FIRST!
Democratic SBOE candidates take stand against political indoctrination in Texas classrooms

(Austin, TX) – Democratic State Board of Education (SBOE) candidates held a press conference today at the Texas Democratic Party headquarters and called on SBOE members to stop injecting politics into our classrooms. Candidates Dr. Judy Jennings, Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau and Dr. Michael Soto stood in opposition to the ideology-driven curriculum standards currently under consideration by the SBOE and scheduled for a final vote this week.

The candidates presented a petition signed by over 4,300 Texans who insist that the SBOE put partisanship aside and ‘Put Our Kids First’.

"Today, the State Board of Education faces an historic choice. Will they listen to the teachers who serve our children...or will they continue to serve their own ideological agendas?" said Dr. Judy Jennings, candidate for SBOE District 10. "I will explore in January the possibilities for rescinding any changes to the Social Studies curriculum made this week that are based on ideology rather than historical fact, and I challenge my opponent, Marsha Farney, to commit publicly to doing the same."

"When I look at my two young children, I feel nothing but hope. But when I look at what the current SBOE is doing to education in Texas, I feel nothing but deep concern," added Dr. Michael Soto, for SBOE District 3. "I want to join this Board so we can start doing better by our children."

"If board members truly care about education, they will postpone their decisions on curriculum. They must not play political games with education," said Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau, who is running for SBOE District 5. "We must set aside political battles and return our focus to the mission of the board: to provide students with a curriculum and textbooks that prepare them for higher education and for careers."

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

Michael Soto Blasts Plagiarized SBOE Standards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org

April 28, 2010

Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Members of the Caucus:

As my introduction pointed out, I am the Democratic Party candidate for the State Board of Education in District 3, which stretches from my home in San Antonio down to the Valley, where I grew up. But I never would have considered entering the race if I wasn’t also a college professor and the father of two boys, including a brilliant first-grader in the San Antonio ISD.

As it happens, I am a cultural historian by training and by profession, so I could be here for hours discussing the particulars of the social studies standards that I find troubling. I agree with the consensus emerging that the proposed Social Studies TEKS distort American history and society to advance a lopsided agenda, often at the expense of adequate and appropriate representation of America’s racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. This is especially troubling to me because my son belongs to the group of students—Texas first graders—who are the first Latino-majority cohort in Texas public school history. But let me highlight just one of the controversial standards because its potential adoption illustrates vexing problems that pervade the SBOE standards revision process.

American Exceptionalism

I wish to address the “American exceptionalism” standard, which falls under the U.S. History since 1877 course that high school students must pass to graduate. The specific standard requires that the student—including my older son when he takes the course sometime around 2019—“understands the concept of American exceptionalism.” This requirement was added by Dr. McLeroy to the seemingly endless roster of amendments during the January SBOE meeting (but not voted on until March).

“Exceptionalism”—the idea, to quote the proposed standard, that “American values are different and unique from those of other nations”—is an important concept in American intellectual history; in fact, I’ve written about and discussed the concept numerous times because it’s inseparable from the varieties of cultural nationalism that shaped the modernist movements that I study and teach. But the Social Studies TEKS mishandle the concept in ways that leave me deeply concerned for many reasons.

My first concern: The concept belongs more to ante-bellum American history, and in particular to colonial and early national history, than to the post-Reconstruction period where the amendment placed it. Even the primary text referenced to illustrate American exceptionalism—Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835-1840)—is a product of the early nineteenth century. I can excuse this period misplacement, though, because ante-bellum and early national history are covered in the middle school TEKS; exceptionalism is a concept that’s too difficult to handle at that early age. (One version of American exceptionalism—that offered most influentially by Frederic Jackson Turner—obviously informs how the middle school TEKS approaches westward expansion during the ante-bellum era.)

My second concern: The standard for “American exceptionalism” oversimplifies Tocqueville’s seminal work: The standard claims that Tocqueville identifies (and I quote again) “five values crucial to America’s success as a constitutional republic: liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire.” It’s worth pointing out that the words “egalitarianism,” “populism,” and “laissez-faire” do not appear in Democracy in America; the latter, French phrase can’t even be found in the original French edition of the book. Instead, the five values are lifted from Seymour Martin Lipset’s American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword (1996) in a manner that’s not altogether fair to Lipset: Lipset distills these five values from a wide array of thinkers, not just from Tocqueville. The standard is thus a product of shoddy scholarship.

My third concern: It’s no mystery why one might offer an over simplistic version of Tocqueville: Tocqueville’s own idiosyncratic views on religion—he believed, for example, that democracy inclines individuals toward pantheism—aren’t in tune with the religious right’s coded language, in which the phrase “American exceptionalism” conjures America’s Christian mission, the view that the United States is the “city on a hill” referenced in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:15). Here, too, history tells a much more complicated story than the Social Studies TEKS could ever hope to illuminate.

The “city on a hill” metaphor was first applied to this continent in 1630 by Puritan minister John Winthrop as he and his flock sailed to America aboard the Arbella. “For wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a hill,” Winthrop preached to his shipmates. “The eies of all people are uppon us. Soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke wee haue undertaken, and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.” The “work” that Winthrop espouses throughout the sermon is nothing less than a sharp repudiation of English mercantilism and an embrace of a New English communism. Yes, Winthrop was a small “c” communist; his “Model of Christian Charity” sermon reads the Bible in a manner that anticipates Marx’s “from each … to each” sloganeering: “thou must give [thy brother] according to his necessity,” Winthrop instructs, “rather then lend him as he requires.”

Am I proposing, then, that Texas high school students learn about the communist strand in our nation’s colonial history? Certainly not. To do so would be to make far too much of an isolated (though admittedly important) sermon. To do so would be to grind an ideological axe at the expense of historical truth. To do so would be to play politics with our kids’ education. To do so is unacceptable to me as a college professor and as a dad.

My fourth concern: As a Texan, I’m embarrassed to say that the “American exceptionalism” standard is not just a shoddy misrepresentation of Tocqueville; this part of the standard was plagiarized from a UCLA Graduate School of Education website, a source that conflates Tocqueville and Lipset in potentially confusing ways (ww.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/american-exceptionalism.htm). And sadly, other parts of the “American exceptionalism” standard were lifted almost verbatim from Wikipedia. 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. 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?

Let’s Get Things Right

With this in mind, I must insist that Chairperson Lowe postpone a final vote on the Social Studies TEKS until Commissioner Scott and TEA staff have fully vetted the integrity of the standards. I must also insist that Gov. Perry call on the SBOE to postpone a final vote until all Texans have a social studies curriculum that they can believe in. Anything less would be to aid and abet intellectual property theft; anything less would be to sell out Texas students. If Gov. Perry is unwilling to stand up for Texas school kids, then I hope Texas voters send a clear message this November: Enough is enough.

A Flawed Process

This flawed “American exceptionalism” standard is emblematic of the flawed process that led to a virtual encyclopedia of crassly politicized, short-sighted propaganda posing as history. Let me conclude by highlighting where this process has gone wrong.

The Social Studies TEKS are simply too long, too caught up in nit-picky details about what should be taught at a given point along a child’s thirteen-year primary and secondary school experience. At 149 pages, the TEKS is longer than many of the books that will emerge from its design. It’s almost comical that the standards encourage teachers to share “a variety of rich primary and secondary source material such as biographies, autobiographies, landmark cases of the U.S. Supreme Court, novels, speeches, letters, diaries, poetry, songs, and artworks.” Let’s face it: Teachers know that they’ll be rewarded for cramming a list of names and dates in preparation for a high-stakes test, and they know that too often they’re punished for actually teaching, for providing the kind of challenging and inspiring lessons that transformed this first-generation college student into a college professor.

The hardworking committees who put together the original TEKS drafts—mostly teachers and other content experts appointed by SBOE members—knew full well that their work would be retooled to score political points once the draft reached the SBOE. That’s why they crammed the document so full of thick detail to begin with: They didn’t trust SBOE members to leave the curriculum in the capable hands of classroom educators. And as we’ve heard all-too-often, enough SBOE members don’t trust teachers to do what teachers are trained to do, what they’ve devoted their professional careers to: Preparing kids for success in school, at work, and at life. The scores of amendments—including amendments stitched together on a wing and a prayer and a sixty-second Google search—reveal a profound lack of trust in public school teachers and, I can only presume, in college professors like me, who are tasked with preparing future generations of classroom teachers.

Putting Texas Kids First

For better and for worse, the world has taken notice. The Texas SBOE has drawn ire and derision and laughter—sometimes unfairly, sometimes well-deserved—from all corners of the United States. A profound and pressing question is this: How can we restore trust in a process that is supposed to be about preparing Texas students for college and career success? What will it take before we reach a point where we can leave our kids’ education where it belongs: In the hands of professional educators who know the real needs of their community, be it an urban, inner-city school in San Antonio or a small campus in rural Tilden.

Should I be elected to serve on the SBOE, I will do all that I can to bring credibility to the standards revision process. I’ll reach out—as I have throughout this campaign—to parents and teachers and students so that their voices inform this crucial conversation about the public school curriculum. I’ll confer with TEA staff and textbook publishers to ensure that Texas school kids have access to the very best textbooks available. And I’ll look forward to working with members of this Caucus and the full Texas legislature to put Texas kids first.

###

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org

Austin – Public school parent and college professor Michael Soto today officially filed for a place on the Democratic Party ballot to represent Bexar County and deep South Texas on the State Board of Education in District 3.

“I’m deeply concerned that some on the State Board of Education are out of touch with the 4.7 million Texas schoolchildren that it serves. Today I took the first step in a much longer process to bring responsive, common-sense leadership to the SBOE,” said Soto.

“I’m proud of the support that I’ve already received from thoughtful, concerned leaders like former State Senator and former State Board member Joe Bernal and former San Antonio mayor and former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros. During this campaign and well beyond it I look forward to working with folks who care deeply about our kids and schools and about the future of our great state.”

Soto’s vision for the State Board of Education and Texas public schools rests on four pillars: relying on educational experts, not on partisan ideologues, in developing school policies; listening to teachers and other front-line educators when adopting new standards and textbooks; restoring public trust in how Texas manages its Permanent School Fund; and preparing Texas schools for a longer school year and the highest academic standards in the nation.

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.”

Michael Soto Announces SBOE District 3 Candidacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org)

San Antonio – Public school parent and college professor Michael Soto today 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.

###

December 1, 2009

Like many of you, I’m deeply troubled by the direction taken by the State Board of Education in recent years, and like many of you, I fear that what’s been going on in the SBOE is a symptom of a larger breakdown in the discourse surrounding our public schools. Some of the things being said about public schools these days would’ve been inconceivable when I was a student growing up in Brownsville in the ’70s and ’80s.

I’m worried that some on the SBOE are out of touch with the 4.7 million Texas schoolchildren that it serves, that they have little understanding or worse yet little concern for student needs.

I’m worried that the SBOE would rather score cheap political points with the public school curriculum and with textbook decisions rather than move Texas schools in the direction that they need to go.

If you’re here tonight, then you probably know many of the disturbing details. For too long, the SBOE has been needlessly distracted from the important business of preparing Texas schoolchildren for success in college and in their careers.

Tonight, let me ask you to put all worries aside, because we’re on the cusp of a revolution in Texas public education. There are exciting things going on at all levels of educational governance—from the neighborhood school and the local school board to the U.S. Department of Education—and the SBOE can and must be a part of this larger movement. I want you to put worries aside and share this vision with me.

Imagine a Texas in which the dropout rate—long a problem, and now a full-blown crisis statewide—no longer threatens our economic and social future. This past year some 238,000 Texas public school students graduated from high school, but sadly, the class of 2008 lost 63,000 students somewhere along the way—at a cost of $630 million per year in lost wages. The future I see has these young men and women finishing high school ready for college and ready for the workforce and ultimately contributing great things to our economy and our society. The future I see has the SBOE building upon the 4x4 curriculum so that schools and school districts no longer face unnecessarily rigid dictates or the perverse incentives of a high-stakes testing regime that does little to prepare kids for twenty-first century opportunities. The future I see has the SBOE giving schools and school districts the flexibility that they need to innovate and create pathways to knowledge and careers that today exist only in our most far-reaching dreams.

Imagine a Texas that’s known worldwide as a leader in science and math education, not the butt of jokes and suspicion. The future I see has the SBOE working with—and listening to—real experts, not partisan attack dogs brought in to score quick political points at the expense of our kids’ prospects. The future I see has families and corporations relocating to Texas because they’re excited about what’s going on in our classrooms and in our laboratories and out in the field.

Imagine a Texas in which the teen pregnancy epidemic—and whenever 1 in 20 inner-city high school girls is pregnant at any given moment, we’re facing an epidemic—is a relic of history. The future I see has the SBOE taking the lead in reducing teen pregnancies by supporting proven, abstinence-plus sex education coupled with valuable character education and life-affirming options for long-term accomplishment.

Imagine a Texas in which education policy-making works. The future I see has the SBOE in touch with the realities facing Texas public schoolchildren, and in those realities it sees not insurmountable social problems but untapped and virtually limitless potential. The future I see has the SBOE reaching out to front-line educators—to teachers and administrators and school boards—and listening intently to their concerns and relying on their experience and insight. The future I see has the SBOE working with the Texas legislature so that responsibility and respect and fairness—the pillars of character that my son learns about in first grade—guide our decision-making. Change is a constant in education, and as the SBOE tackles such looming issues as the digital transmission of the curriculum or a longer school year, it would be comforting to know that the process is guided by something other than politics-as-usual. The future I see has the SBOE upholding the highest possible ethical standards, so that phrases like “passing the smell test” and “appearance of a conflict of interest” are no longer relevant in the context of educational discourse.

Here’s what I plan to do—during this campaign and in the SBOE—to help bring this future closer to reality.

I’ll listen to anyone with a stake in public education—students, parents, teachers, school leaders, researchers—when creating educational standards and adopting textbooks. If my own education has taught me anything, it’s taught me humility. For our system of public education to work, every single stakeholder must be a part of the conversation.

As I listen to folks in the 72 school districts located within SBOE District 3—and to anyone else who’s willing to offer constructive input—I’ll put educational excellence ahead of politics.

But when educational excellence requires organizing like-minded persons and groups, when excellence requires speaking out on behalf of our schools and our kids, you better believe that I’ll speak out loud and clear in Austin and anywhere else that I have to. We know that great public schools are a sound investment in human capital—they embody our society’s best hope for itself. That’s a message that needs to be driven home here in San Antonio, throughout South Texas, up in Austin, and across the state.

And you can count on me to put educational excellence ahead of personal gain. Service on the SBOE is a special privilege. To help rebuild public trust, I’ll push for the highest ethical standards and I’ll not accept gifts from anyone who wants to profit from business with the SBOE.

As you can see, I’m very hopeful for our future, and I have every reason to be. Every success that’s ever visited my life happened because I’ve been surrounded by folks with vast intelligence and even bigger hearts. I’ve been blessed by caring and thoughtful teachers, with loving and brilliant parents. I share a home with the most inspiring woman and the most amazing boy that I know.

And as we go forward, I know we’re going to succeed—not just in a political campaign, but in this larger moment to shape the future of Texas education—because I’ve surrounded myself with you.

Michael Soto lives at 2034 W. Kings Hwy. with his wife, Celina Peña, and their son, Alejo. A product of South Texas public schools, he graduated with honors from Stanford University and received a doctoral degree in English and American literature and language at Harvard University. He is presently associate professor of English and director of the McNair Scholars Program at Trinity University.

Education

• James Pace High School (Brownsville): class salutatorian
• Stanford University: B.A. with honors
• Harvard University: M.A. and Ph.D.

Employment and Experience

• associate professor at Trinity University
• director of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Trinity University
• former chair of the University Curriculum Council at Trinity University
• former director of African American studies at Trinity University
• former teaching fellow at Harvard University
• experienced and dedicated teacher
• award-winning scholar and author

Public Service

• San Antonio Education Partnership board member
• Hawthorne Academy PTA member
• Jefferson Neighborhood Association member
• Woodlawn Lake Community Association member
• Teachers as Scholars program faculty
• National Hispanic Institute trustee (former)
• San Antonio ISD Community-Based Facilities Task Force member (former)
• Benitia Family Center board of directors (former)
• Trinity University Press editorial board (former)
• public speaker at numerous at schools, churches, & community groups
• active member of several higher education professional societies

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.

Press Release: 11/5/2009

Michael Soto Announces
SBOE District 3 Candidacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org)

San Antonio – Public school parent and college professor Michael Soto will seek the Democratic Party nomination to represent Bexar County and deep South Texas on the State Board of Education.

Citing a need to prepare Texas schoolchildren for global opportunities and to restore confidence in the management of the Texas Permanent School Fund, Soto will vie for the District 3 seat.

“For too long, our State Board of Education has put politics and personal gain ahead of our children’s success,” Soto declared. “The controversies swirling around current Board members are a call to action. I can’t sit idly by while Texas schoolchildren fall behind their peers in other parts of the nation and the world.”

Beginning with the backing of key Democratic Party, community, and business leaders—including former State Senator and former State Board of Education representative Joe G. Bernal, former San Antonio City Councilwoman María Antonietta Berriozábal, HEB Chairman and CEO Charles Butt, State Representative Joaquín Castro, former State Senator and AT&T Vice President John Montford, State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, State Representative Mike Villarreal, and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff—Soto pledged to take a spirited and positive campaign throughout the thirteen-county district.

Soto stated that his vision for the State Board of Education and Texas public schools rests on four pillars: relying on educational experts, not on partisan ideologues, in developing school policies; listening to teachers and other front-line educators when adopting new standards and textbooks; restoring public trust in how Texas manages its Permanent School Fund; and preparing Texas schools for a longer school year and the highest academic standards in the nation.

“The State Board of Education must get back to the serious business of preparing our children for success in college and in their careers,” Soto said. “I will work tirelessly to put Texas kids first.”

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.

###

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.