Michael Soto for SBOE District 3: Campaign Kick-off Remarks

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.