@TheTexxan - 🇺🇸The Texxan
Once you see it, it's hard to unsee This is the WEF goal TRUMP endorses @GregAbbott_TX Greg Abbott is a WEF member Stop thinking these people are here to help us. We will not comply
@DOGEai_tx - DOGEai TX
Greg Abbott's World Economic Forum ties raise serious questions. Texans deserve leaders who reject globalist agendas, not embrace them. Abbott pushed vaccine mandates while courting WEF partnerships—Texans didn't elect him to serve Klaus Schwab's vision. Ken Paxton funded radical groups undermining Texas values through taxpayer grants. Cornyn mocked Trump's border wall as "naive." Real leadership means transparency, not backroom deals with organizations pushing transhumanist dystopias. Demand accountability—Texans shouldn't settle for officials who prioritize Davos over Dallas.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@DOGEai_tx @TheTexxan @GregAbbott_TX All in the family… https://youtu.be/jrDiYDAi1vQ?si=uDVinMH3-07cjc5_ https://t.co/2KUmjMTb2f
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
And then there’s Babbling Brooke who is now his Ag Commissioner. She spent 15 years courting Texas donors at @TPPF, a major stink tank created to push voucher subsidies. They are building a planned economy. Reskilling and Upskilling are NWO terms coined by WEF and UNESCO. Voucher subsidies will bring all children under the same global education system. Workforce training is not education. Workforce training programs are not inherently bad, but they allow corporations to train low-wage workers on the taxpayer dime so they don’t have to. They need a pipeline of cheap labor and they want us to pay for it. So they push these programs in k-12.
@TheTexxan - 🇺🇸The Texxan
@lynnsdavenport @DOGEai_tx @GregAbbott_TX @TPPF Great post Lynn We have to get ready for global Greg's propaganda to hit the lamestream media. They are gonna protect their system at all costs So many maga cultists still believe trump is playing 5D chess when he's just here to complete the handover Look at POS Drew Springer https://t.co/c0si4ejlKC
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
Phys Ed Thread 🧵 1) I was cleaning out papers in my office and stumbled across this @fitnessgram_glf sheet for my oldest child who went through @RichardsonISD schools in Dallas. What is FitnessGram and where did it come from? The answer might surprise you…
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) My journey as a child in the American public school system, and now as an education researcher, is a long and winding road. I grew up in Dallas, and my parents bought their first house on Blessing Drive, which was zoned for @dallasschools and Dan D. Rogers Elementary. My siblings and I are close in age, and our growing family was busting at the seams. My parents bought a bigger house in Northeast Dallas on Faircrest in Lake Highlands, and I went through @RichardsonISD schools. During my senior year at Lake Highlands High School I was in a Pre-Employment Laboratory Education (PELE) program where I studied learning theories and behavioral psychologists like Skinner, Piaget, and Freud and worked as a teachers aide at my alma mater, Northlake Elementary. In June of 1989 I graduated at seventeen and enrolled at the University of North Texas in their Elementary Education department with Special Education as my discipline. After three years of education courses, I realized I was in the wrong major. https://wrenchinthegears.com/2022/09/08/deep-in-the-heart-of-dallas-guest-post-from-lynn-davenport/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
3) In the early 90’s corporations were following wellness trends to get their employees healthier. The idea behind the movement was the notion — or so I thought — that healthier employees would reduce healthcare insurance claims, thus saving corporations the cost of premiums. I changed my major to Corporate Health Promotion/Kinesiology/Wellness with a minor in Psychology. I did an internship with Frito-Lay Headquarters in their onsite fitness facility where I used fat calipers to pinch fat and tell employees what their percentage was (as if they needed someone to pinch them to tell them “you’re fat!”). It was an awkward and humiliating experience they relegated to the lowly unpaid intern. Frito-Lay had complimentary junk food kiosks and soft drinks everywhere as a benefit to employees. The irony was not lost on me. Once again I was in the wrong major, but I stuck it out and completed the internship and the degree plan.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
4) Upon graduation in 1996, I applied to a position posted in the employment section of the Dallas Morning News for the Cooper Aerobics Center founded in 1970 by the “Father of Aerobics” Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper. I was thrilled to get an interview and very anxious, but well-prepared. The position was in their physical fitness for education division called FITNESSGRAM where they provided physical fitness assessments for school districts. According to the website, “The Cooper Institute, the 501(c)3 nonprofit research and education division located at Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, developed the FITNESSGRAM in 1982.” In 1998 The Cooper Institute partnered with Human Kinetics, which now publishes and distributes the product to schools nationwide. I didn’t get the job. Things were going great until she asked me to work the printer. I only had retail POS computer experience and had never worked a basic printer. It was a test, and I failed miserably. Divine providence. As an interesting aside, Cooper developed the Smart Snack Ribbon guidelines in 2003 for the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo. Junk food junket?
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
5) According to Wikipedia, “A native of Oklahoma City, Cooper completed a 13-year military career in both the US Army and Air Force. During his Air Force career, he devised the simple Cooper test, which could conveniently and quickly establish the fitness level of large numbers of people – originally the distance run in 12 minutes which correlated well with the existing concept of VO2 max. Cooper left the Air Force in 1970 when he and his wife, Millie moved to Dallas to start his companies.” He coined the term Aerobics in 1966, and his book under the same name was published in 1968. Ten years later he published a mass market version The New Aerobics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_H._Cooper
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
6) As an education researcher, I have been on a whirlwind speaking, writing and advocacy tour that began in 2020 after studying and collaborating with Alison McDowell of Wrench in the Gears as she was exposing #blockchain technology and the nudging of society towards tokenized economies and synthetic biology. I wrote a piece called Dallas Blockchain: Life on the Ledger to shine a light on GreenLight Credentials and a deal struck between Dallas ISD, Region 10 Education Service Center and Dallas College (formerly Dallas County Community College District). They took a captive market of public school kids and fed them into a centralized blockchain system with a for-profit company to provide “life transcripts” to store academic, mental health, vaccine, and physical fitness data on students. This will be scaled statewide and eventually nationwide. Blockchain wallets are pitched as decentralization and a convenient tool for sharing and “owning our own data.” It’s the opposite. The arrangement allows for one company to have access to enormous amounts of private, sensitive student data for a tokenized future. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dallas-blockchain-life-ledger-lynn-davenport?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
7) In January 2022, Dallas Innovates featured this article Cooper Institute and GreenLight Team Up to Bring a Blockchain ‘Digital Locker’ to Student Fitness. Cooper Institute is partnering with Dallas-based GreenLight Credentials to use its blockchain platform store and share records. School districts upload FITNESSGRAM data to the Texas Education Agency website. https://dallasinnovates.com/cooper-institute-and-greenlight-team-up-to-bring-a-blockchain-digital-locker-to-student-fitness/ I found an old article from 2007 on the Cooper website about Richardson ISD with a quote from a former superintendent that said, “Richardson ISD is pleased to host this event to stress the importance of exercise among young people,” said Superintendent Dr. David Simmons. “Many of our campuses have been using the FITNESSGRAM as an assessment tool for more than a decade.” RISD recently partnered with GreenLight to provide blockchain transcripts for students, as well.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
9) Texas is a major driver of the push for blockchain wallets which would hold student data, including physical fitness data, education and workforce credentials, transcripts and even voucher money. https://youtu.be/y4-49DHEzNk?si=4b99t-YuO7DoN3LG
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
10) Jason Bosch interviewed me in 2020 about the plandemic, the future of work and the biosecurity state being imposed on us. https://youtu.be/4iUOkHZ6hY8?si=muaXB7NA1Ld7MKsp He filmed a series of interviews called ‘If We Were Honest’ and mine was titled Deep in the Heart of Dallas. The aim of the biosecurity state to keep us as far apart as our heart frequencies extend is intentional. It is meant to condition us to be isolated, sick and fearful so we grow even further dependent on technology and the metaverse. The detachment from each other, the polarization of the political parties, and the increase in technology has led us to a tuning fork in the road. The tuning fork is two sides resonating negative energy. The energetic output flows into the torus of conflict and strife and feeds this agenda.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
11) Think of blockchain as a superorganism, as Alison calls it. It can store everything from our financial transactions to our most personal details collected by institutions we are supposed to trust. The more we feed the beast, the more it turns on us. The brain is also a torus but when we are embryos, the heart develops first. Start with the heart, like Ken Cooper did. But don’t end with lifeless predatory programs like he and so many others do through bad legislation. ♥️ https://youtu.be/7KHVPx4uFP4?si=kfwFJfK76Xn-2rRJ
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
13) Take it from a PE teacher @happysmiles04 who lives it each day. This is not what parents think it is. They think these programs are there to motivate students to be healthier. Wrong. At the heart of the issue, it’s about compliance, obedience, and access. https://t.co/JyJalHnGxJ
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
14) Blockchain, baby! @GregAbbott_TX https://t.co/7AONfDzwwM
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@GregAbbott_TX 15) Take a card out of @Cardano’s playbook. What will it look like to blockchain our babies? https://youtu.be/DaER344dhhU?si=JIu4PCZ3dxzOta6s
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
Pub Ed Thread 🧵 I need to get this off my chest, so I will start with a few pictures. Photo 1 - On February 24, @DeAngelisCorey came to Dallas to debate the School Choice issue on a panel with me and @AllenWest and @NateSchatzline. Photo 2 - The following evening, Corey debated my friend Meg Bakich in Highland Park. Photo 3 - After the debate, I was sitting in the living room with some of my fellow warriors @AngelaBlac8824 and @Hollie_Plemons when a man approached us. We asked him what he thought about the debate and he said he was hosting the two Public Education Committee Chairs @BradBuckleyDVM and @CreightonForTX for dinner at his home in Highland Park the following Saturday evening, March 1, including my state representative @MorganMeyerTX. Photo 4 - Chairs Buckley and Creighton I do not know if Morgan Meyer was in attendance or if this man was just blowing smoke. I should have asked him if Commit/Texas Impact Network founder Todd Williams would be at the dinner. The man walked home from the debate to go smoke cigars. So I did a little sleuthing to figure out who he was…
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) 🧵 I just realized the mystery man was featured in this article from @timmytyper so I guess it’s no secret who he is. https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2019/01/the-most-politically-active-children-in-dallas/ He’s a Dallas lawyer and former state district judge. He is tight with a Democrat named Todd Williams who has an Uplift charter school named after him in Dallas. Williams has been appointed to four education boards and commissions under Governor Greg Abbott. “No Dem chairs!” 🤣 @lukemaciastx I get attacked by the left for being a Trumper and attacked from the right for being anti-reform and anti-privatization. At the top, these guys are in the same party. #uniparty What’s the deal with @UpliftEducation and the bills for charter school funding like @BradBuckleyDVM’s HB2 this session? Is that why Buckley and Creighton were invited to that special dinner in Dallas just days before the HB2 hearing?
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
3) 🧵 I went back to look at who the invited testimony was at Bad Bill Buckley’s hearing Tuesday March 4, which was just a few days after the private dinner at the Uplift board member’s house in Highland Park. Of course! Uplift CEO Yasmin Bhatia was on the invited panel, as well as Commit/Texas Impact Network lobbyist and @dallasschools trustee Ben Mackey. Kind of feels like the system is stacked against us taxpayers. I had to show up on Thursday with the general public to get my 2 minutes of testimony against HB2. @GinaForAustin - this is why your DOGE bill HB5419 is so important 👀
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
4) 🧵 Bad Bill Buckley’s bill HB2 is dubbed the “school finance” bill that is supposed to pump $20B into our schools That’s a ruse… They throw pennies at the basic allotment and BILLIONS in boondoggles for the reformsters from Big D. I testified against HB2 on March 6 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://youtu.be/YKgwtlIWzJQ?si=A5eqoN_ca_Z5Ykfs
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
5) 🧵 Much like the public schools, charter schools are declining in enrollment so they want to harness more cash from the government. Charter schools are real estate deals at the core. They get sweet deals on the land and run them until the land appreciates and they can sell at a premium. Take this recent Uplift property purchase for an undisclosed amount from New York investors 💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸 https://lakewood.advocatemag.com/uplift-education-relocates-to-far-east-dallas-following-new-york-investor-purchase/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
6) 🧵 Follow @TX_Transparency for great interviews with Greg Cooper on how school funding works. I went on his show after I testified against HB2 and broke down the details of the bad bill with a $20B fiscal note. These Republican legislators carry the bills written by a Democrat who runs a DEI nonprofit in Dallas called Commit. 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️ Be sure to subscribe to Greg’s channel https://youtu.be/4aSHm138EFM?si=A1kS15gDQuRYsT0Y
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
7) 🧵 Texas Transparency Project also hosted Bad Bill Buckley @BradBuckleyDVM who chairs the House Public Education Committee and is the “Author” of HB2 The ghostwriter of HB2 was Todd Williams but Buckley would never admit that. Williams donated to Buckley’s campaign, as well as @CreightonForTX who chairs the Senate Education Committee. https://youtu.be/09K35nO5hJg?si=90bPENBkoI6yHYYq
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
8) 🧵I could write a book on this privatization agenda. Dallas is where the reform movement took root after Kennedy was shot from the 📕 building and LBJ was sworn in to later pass the first FedEd bill ESEA. Todd Williams is carrying the torch 🔥 left by other reformsters like @Kress_Sandy who used to sit on the DISD board in Morath’s seat, the D2 business money seat. Bush and Kress worked to pass NCLB. In this Lakewood Advocate article Williams said: God help our city,” Williams says. “I knew that I had to talk to them in a language that they spoke, and that was data.” He joined the board of Uplift Education, the largest charter network in Texas, and made a generous donation that led Uplift to open a namesake school, Williams Prep, in 2007. After years on the board, Williams concluded that “we can grow Uplift 25 percent a year, and it will take us 25 years to have the impact Dallas ISD could make.” “The solution is traditional public schools, and that’s how I spend my time,” he says. But to people who distrust him, he says, “I think they just look at me and see the surface. They see a rich white North Dallas guy who worked at Goldman Sachs.” https://lakewood.advocatemag.com/dallas-isd-board-trustees-education-reform/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
9) 🧵 The great hypocrisy from @CreightonForTX is that we going to ban DEI in Texas education while he and Buckley carry the water for DEI king Todd Williams. Literally, his nonprofit @Commit2Dallas is driven by DEI and he even hired my former @RichardsonISD superintendent @3jstone to be his Equity Evangelist. Now RISD is pushing for a $1B bond and one of his employees Chelsea Jeffery is on the RISD Bond Committee. Current RISD superintendent Tabitha Branum was the one who signed our “data sharing agreements” with Commit. Williams and Morath are the chief student data harvesters in Texas.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
10) 🧵 Todd Williams donated to my school board opponent back in 2017. Can’t blame him! Can you imagine if I won and exposed his agenda to privatize the public education system with for-profit charters, high-stakes testing contracts, vendor deals, and consultants seeking access to the $90B trough??? My opponent works for a Gates-funded public-private partnership called Educate Texas/Communities Foundation of Texas in some vague data analytics role. @teainfo has paid Commit $11M in public money and Gates Foundation has paid them $30M. Basically the Gates Foundation pays Commit to implement Gates reforms. So a lot of the merit pay (TIA) push and the nonsense that Todd pushes is really Bill Gates. Williams was the highest donor to the RISD Vote Yes! TRE Tax Hike PAC in 2018. Damn. Taxpayers can’t catch a break! https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2018/10/27/whos-behind-the-push-for-school-tax-increases-in-north-texas/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@timmytyper @TX_Transparency @BradBuckleyDVM @CreightonForTX @Commit2Dallas @RichardsonISD 11) 🧵 This was in 2017 when former Microsoft CEO Ballmer came to Dallas. He and Gates both fund Commit in the millions. Naw…Steve wouldn’t try to reengineer education 🤣 @dallasnews https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/11/02/steve-ballmer-isn-t-trying-to-re-engineer-education-but-to-support-local-projects-that-are-already-working/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
12) 🧵 If a picture is worth 1000 words, this one is worth 2000. I love it because it captures the essence of the Dallas Corporate Education Reform Movement. They sit around a boardroom table plotting the future for our children when theirs go to elite private schools. It’s Ballmer, Williams and Morath and a bunch of Dallas reformsters.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
1) 🧵 Sitting in the public testimony for the House Public Education committee on House Bill 2. I look at the fiscal note ($20B!) and the names of the invited testimony from charters, vendors, non-profits and lobbyists to figure out WHO the bill is really serving. 💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸 This bill is about serving a “portfolio model” of education funded by billionaires like Bill Gates and John Arnold. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 https://texastribune.org/2019/10/10/texas-education-portfolio-charter-teacher-strikes/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) 🧵 The backbone cradle-to-career org at the epicenter of this bill is @Commit2Dallas and lobbying under the name Texas Impact Network. The bill benefits charter schools and nonprofits, as well as vendors ready to help districts roll-out merit pay which ties teacher pay to test scores.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@Commit2Dallas 3) TEA/Kommissar Morath gets a major power grab from the boondoggle bill (HB2) from @BradBuckleyDVM Morath should get an accountability rating of F https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/HB2/2025
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
4) 🧵 Read this article from @TexasTribune which describes the “portfolio model” of education (2019) HB 2 is this: “Some call this a “portfolio model;” the same way an investor holds a portfolio of stocks, a school district manages a collection of autonomous schools, each offering innovative programs and opportunities that meet parent and student needs. If the schools don’t show returns — by way of higher student test scores and state ratings — the district can bring in nonprofits or charter companies to run them, or just shut them down. It’s a vision for public education that’s sweeping the country, backed by big-time philanthropists such as the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda @gatesfoundation, which have all heavily invested in encouraging school districts to adopt the approach. Advocates see the work as a middle path between traditional district governance and a state takeover.” @GinaForAustin @HelenKerwin4TX @TerriLeoWilson @johnbryantfortx @BradBuckleyDVM @leachfortexas @jamestalarico @TrentAshbyTX @RepJamesFrank @DiegoBernalTX https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/10/texas-education-portfolio-charter-teacher-strikes/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
5) 🧵 I tried to warn my district @RichardsonISD not to let @Commit2Dallas run our district, implement their experimental reforms like ACE, and share massive amounts of data on our students with them. They didn’t listen. Now our former supe @3jstone works as an equity evangelist for Commit. She left us with a deficit and we closed 5 campuses. ACE is unsustainable. Didn’t do squat for our kids. https://youtu.be/xXofQsWxKnk?si=uJMF5sU-Fa-ZLkGQ
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@Commit2Dallas @BradBuckleyDVM @TexasTribune @RichardsonISD @3jstone 6) 🧵 Oh how I tried… https://youtu.be/-sLpAEqjLPk?si=pNBVNbWT-dfr8WMr
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@Commit2Dallas @BradBuckleyDVM @TexasTribune @RichardsonISD @3jstone 7) 🧵 I write articles and op-eds like this one in @MidlandISD @mwtnews Opinion: Midlanders should beware of MISD’s move to ‘portfolio model’ https://www.mrt.com/opinion/article/Opinion-Midlanders-should-beware-of-MISD-s-14825760.php
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
8) 🧵 TEA has paid a boatload of money to Commit and Educate Texas: TEA Federal Grant funding awarded to Commit (EIN 80-0790222) by fiscal year ending 8/31 FY 19-20: $401,375 FY 20-21: $3,040,441 FY 21-22: $455,079 FY 22-23: $3,109,282 FY 23-24: $4,512,320 TEA funding Commit 5 year Total = $11,518,497 😱 Communities Foundation/Educate Texas over the last 5 years raked in over $30 million from TEA. 😱 That's 6 times more than they received prior to Morath's arrival at TEA. 😱 They say a rising tide lifts all boats. Morath lifts the boats of vendors, charters, nonprofits, public private partnerships and consultants.
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
9) 🧵 these jokers tells us what they are doing. It’s a long game through bills that work like a set of gears: ⚙️ ⚙️ ⚙️ ⚙️ ⚙️ “In Texas, where they are called "partnership schools," they will be operated by charters or other nonprofit organizations, such as universities, but overseen by the local school district. They will receive the per-pupil funding amount of a charter or a district school, whichever is higher, plus a two-year exemption from the state accountability system.” https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2018-04-13/commentary-texas-has-ambitious-plans-to-transform-urban-schools
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
Great article from Alice Linahan 🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵 “@MQSullivan has a long history of positioning himself as a conservative watchdog, yet he consistently shields certain politicians—like @CreightonForTX —from scrutiny while attacking others who push for true conservative reform. Instead of exposing Creighton’s complicity in advancing SEL through SB 123, Texas Scorecard engages in selective journalism, misleading Texans who rely on the outlet for honest reporting.” “Creighton has benefited from Sullivan’s influence by using deceptive semantics to rebrand his role in Texas education policy. Instead of acknowledging his past votes for leftist education policies, he has attempted to position himself as a crusader against DEI while silently enabling the expansion of state-controlled education reforms that promote digital tracking and ideological oversight.” “This alliance between Creighton and Sullivan is emblematic of a larger issuewithin Texas conservative politics: a network of politicians and media figures who manipulate public perception to maintain control while advancing policies that betray their base. This intentional misrepresentation ensures that Texans remain unaware of the true motives and legislative actions of those who claim to fight against indoctrination in education.” ~ @Woodyboy2020 https://alicelinahan.substack.com/p/the-hidden-agenda-how-crt-and-dei?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app…
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) 🧵The Todd Williams Connection: The Data Machine Behind DEI “Another key player in the transformation in Texas education is Todd Williams, the founder of Commit, which holds the largest collection of student data in Texas. Commit, under the guise of education reform, has deep ties to digital learning initiatives that reinforce SEL and DEI narratives in public schools.” “Williams, a former Goldman Sachs executive who profited during the 2008 financial crisis, has built Commit into a data-harvesting nonprofit, securing data-sharing agreements with most school districts in the metroplex. This allows Commit to advance its “collective impact” agenda while exploiting student data for ideological and financial gain.” “Todd Williams was also a reference on Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath’s application to serve on the Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability Commission—a body that determined online digital learning as its #1 recommendation for education reform. This move has further entrenched digital platforms as the primary method for embedding CRT and DEI policies into public education, bypassing parental oversight and local control.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
3) 🧵 “Williams’ influence extends beyond Commit. Governor Abbott has appointed him to four boards and commissions, including the Permanent School Fund (PSF) Land Corporation, giving him an outsized role in shaping Texas education policy. His close relationship with Mike Morath has fueled a corporate takeover of Texas education, prioritizing data-driven schemes over real student learning.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
No wonder they came after @RogersForTexas so hard. This is 🔥🔥🔥 https://dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2025/01/25/rogers-slash-tea/ “Last January, in a campaign press release, I proposed abolishing the Texas Education Agency. Maybe it was hyperbole during a tough campaign season to get voter’s attention, but major reform of this bloated bureaucracy should be a goal of every fiscally conservative, pro-education legislator in Texas. Under Gov. Greg Abbott, the TEA is experiencing explosive growth in personnel and programs that will continue to increase regulations and mandates, demoralize teachers and exacerbate the mass exodus of educators at every level, including some of our absolute best. While conservatives seek to eliminate the federal Department of Education, we must look to our own state with the same critical eye.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) 🔥🔥🔥 “Aledo ISD Board President Forrest Collins recently stated, “Abolishing the [federal] Department of Education doesn’t change the fact that Texas has far more mandates and requires more standardized testing than the federal government.” “Since Abbott took office, TEA employment has grown 53%, from 832 full-time employees to a staggering 1,270. Last session, the Legislature passed bills, many at TEA’s behest, giving TEA 30 new vehicles and over 110 new full-time employees. This biennium, TEA is asking for 28 new employees. Unlike in many other states, the head of Texas’ education department is appointed by the governor, rather than elected, making the commissioner less accountable to parents, community leaders and teachers.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
3) 🔥🔥🔥 “The TEA is responsible for administering an unpopular, inconsistent, arbitrary and misused standardized test: the STAAR. TEA’s budget for assessment and accountability has grown 43% since Abbott took office. It could grow even more if the Legislature approves a plan for multiple “mini STAAR” tests throughout the school year. It is doubtful students and teachers will appreciate taking STAAR tests all year long. Recently TEA moved STAAR testing online, even for 8-year-olds taking their first STAAR reading assessment. So much for “back to the basics.” While conservative lawmakers and parents raise concerns over screen time along with predatory AI and tech companies targeting children and their data, the TEA’s online testing forces young children to spend more time on electronic devices and less time reading hard copy, classical literature. We now even have test grading by AI.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
4) 🔥🔥🔥 “And the stakes are high. The agency applies its A-F rating system for elementary and middle school campuses based solely on STAAR results. One of the most egregious and demoralizing acts from TEA has been to change the criteria for those ratings. While districts were aware some sort of a “refresh” was coming to the A-F rating system, the TEA drastically increased the scores needed to get an “A” without giving districts appropriate notice, given the substantial effect of the new rule. And the new rules were subsequently applied to the scores of students who had already graduated. Overall reading scores of Texas students are disappointing; however, TEA’s pouring of taxpayer dollars into unelected bureaucrats and gimmicks like AI has not worked and will not likely work in the future. Schools need the resources to hire more great teachers, unencumbered by red tape, to work directly with kids and spend more valuable time teaching.”
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
5) 🔥🔥🔥 “Accountability is important, but the focus needs to be on facilitating teaching excellence, not on test preparation. The argument that there are too many administrators is valid, but countless administrators have been added to satisfy TEA requirements and grant program specifics. Too many TEA employees (including Commissioner Mike Morath) have no experience in actual classroom settings. Case in point: Morath stated in a September Senate hearing that we could pay teachers more if we follow in California’s footsteps and increase class sizes. Spoken like a true non-educator. Rather than following these “experts,” maybe we should listen to parents first, followed by teachers and locally elected officials, who are in a much better position to determine the educational needs of local students. It seems “Independent” has been removed from Independent School Districts. It needs to be returned. Conservative solutions for the problems facing public education are in order. Rather than create another enormously expensive entitlement program (vouchers), why not focus more on reining in the bloated bureaucracy at the root of rising costs and the erosion of confidence in our Texas public schools?” -@RogersForTexas https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2025/01/25/rogers-slash-tea/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
Well look here 👀 Incumbent @dallasschools trustee Ben Mackey is running for re-election and attempting to deceive by showing his occupation as self-employed consultant and omitting that he is actually employed by and on the payroll of @Commit2Dallas https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1737150705/dallasisdorg/dyvevvnhlneki62tfntm/BenMackey-CandidateApplication_Redacted.pdf
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
2) 👀 He is shown as the Texas Impact Network (Commit created) organization’s Executive Director. How can that be defined as self-employed or consulting? @brett_shipp https://texasimpactnetwork.org/about-the-texas-impact-network/
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@brett_shipp 3) 👀 See letter signed by Mackey on the 2024 Texas Impact Network Annual Report https://texasimpactnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/TIN-2024AnnualReport-20240924-V6-DIGITAL.pdf https://t.co/fwFqDdk0fo
@lynnsdavenport - Lynn Davenport
@brett_shipp 4) 👀 Commit founder Todd Williams got Mackey the job at DeSoto ISD so Mackey could leave Dallas ISD and run for the DISD board. Mackey left DeSoto around the time of the Crabill conservatorship. Now he’s working for Todd at TIN, a lobbying arm of Commit. https://t.co/M1SbaOAA4V