Lessons Learned on "Moderate" Republicans on the SBOE

There was some extremely slim hope that the "moderate" Republicans on the Texas State Board of Education would do what is right for kids and would vote against the new Social Studies TEKS that were based on religion and far right wing ideology, rather than on expert input.

No such luck. Two "moderates" voted with the social conservatives, and one was absent (walked the vote? or had an excused absence?)

(Link to SBOE member photos and bios at this link on the TEA website)

The seven social conservatives voting yes: Dunbar, McLeroy, Lowe, Leo, Mercer, Bradley, Cargill

"Moderate" conservatives voting yes: Pat Hardy, Bob Craig

"Moderate" conservative who was absent: Geraldine "Tincy" Miller

Note: The ten members above are all white Republicans. The five members below are all Democrats and people of color. As with the health care debate, it's hard to not cry racism.

The five Democrats who voted no: Agosto, Allen, Berlanga, Nunez, Knight

I'm concerned that donors and endorsers in the upcoming November SBOE races won't have learned a lesson from this about supporting moderate Republicans in SBOE races who claim they will put partisanship aside and do what's right for Texas school children.

Let me give you one example. SBOE 10 covers 16 counties, from Williamson County, down through part of Brazoria County (map here.) There are going to be donors and endorsing groups (I'm thinking of Parent PAC and TFN, as two possible example) who will be tempted to support the Republican, Marsha Farney. She's already being characterized inside and outside the press as a moderate, who would bring balance to the SBOE. But, on her website, it's clear she is catering to the far right. Here's a screenshot of her home page with it's emphasis on her 100% pro-life rating (click to make larger):

And, here is some text from her issues page (emphasis mine):

Dr. Marsha Farney On the Issues

Back to BASICS

Providing a rigorous education for the children of Texas is a serious challenge facing our state today. As a member of the State Board of Education, I will work to strengthen and enhance our curriculum to ensure that we are offering the quality education that our children deserve.  Our students need to graduate with the necessary skill sets to either enter higher institutions of learning, technical training or competitively enter the workplace.  Providing a foundation of early proficiency in the core curriculum areas of reading, writing and mathematics is essential to student success.

I will also work to strengthen and preserve our state and national heritage as well as our traditional family values in our curriculum.

Sounds like she would have been voting with the social conservatives on the social studies TEKS, because they were certainly hiding in plain sight behind the national heritage flag. These couple of things are clearly a play by her to attract the far right wing to her candidacy.

There's a terrific alternative for SBOE 10 in the Democrat, Judy Jennings. She's got a Ph.D in education, has worked in the TEA assessment division, and is currently an education researcher, and Director of Assessment, with Resources for Learning (read the "About Judy" here.) I've met Judy and have had the chance to have numerous conversations with her. She's qualified and has a tremendous knowledge and understanding of how the SBOE works. She decided to run to be a part of ending the nonsense that is our current State Board of Education.

There will be some who say that SBOE 10 is too red, so they might as well back the Republican, but the bulk of the district's voters are in blue Travis County, and the "turning bluer every day" Fort Bend County. I'll get some numbers up on this district in a follow-up post.

Marsha Farney comes with a warning label: Don't get fooled by again by another "moderate" Republican.

Demolition Day Makes Neighborhoods Safer For Children

I'm thrilled to see that Mayor Parker implemented a huge Demolition Day effort today, tearing down 185 abandoned structures - the most ever torn down in one day (press release below.) I've long been concerned about these abandoned homes and buildings, which often serve as crack houses in school children's neighborhoods. I've seen them right across the street and next door to an HISD elementary school where I consulted this past school year. I'd like to see the City prioritize the demolitions, with abandoned structures near schools torn down first, and as quickly as possible when it's been determined the owner will take no action.

In the photo are Mayor Annise Parker (at the podium), and Council Member Jolanda Jones, at the first of the homes demolished today. The Mayor and Council Members will be attending the funeral of HPD Officer Eyedelmen Mani today.

Press Release - Mayor Parker Orders Demolition Day:

With a big helping hand from the Houston Contractors Association (HCA), Mayor Annise Parker today initiated “Demolition Day,” the destruction of 185 abandoned, dangerous buildings and crack houses around Houston, the most structures ever removed in one day.

HCA volunteers will bulldoze 103 of the buildings, a donation that will save the City of Houston an estimated $370,000.   City contractors will take down the other 82 properties, which have asbestos problems or are structurally unsound.  CenterPoint Energy is helping by disconnecting the gas meters at each location.

“Removing dangerous buildings that serve as havens for crime, drugs and prostitution makes our neighborhoods safer,” said Mayor Parker. “I am thankful to the HCA volunteers.  It is due to their help that we are able to remove so many of these structures at one time.  It’s a win-win-win:  good for neighborhoods, good for public safety and good for public health.”

HCA, formed in 1956, is a nonprofit that represents the civil construction industry in the greater Houston area. There are approximately 400 member companies that build Houston roadways, bridges, water and storm sewers, and other civil projects.

“HCA is proud to offer this service to the City of Houston and Mayor Parker,” said Jim Slack, Jr., HCA President. “It feels great to be able to give back to a community that’s given so much to us.”

The city is on track to have torn down 831 buildings by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, setting a new record and far surpassing the initial goal of removing 600 dangerous buildings this fiscal year. The cost for Demolition Day is $1.3 million. The City will attempt to recover these costs by placing liens on the properties.   The city takes action to remove a dangerous building only after the owner has ignored repeated orders to take care of the problem.

What You Missed: SBOE Testifier Says, "Islam is Death"

The later it got last night, the crazier it got. I was at the SBOE meeting when a testifier (it was public hearing day) advocated for God and Country and Christianity, and went straight at Islam with this:

"Islam is coming and Islam is death. Repent, America! Repent!" There was more to his testimony that that, but there's your recap. 

SBOE member Lawrence Allen (who is Muslim), very patiently asked the testifier what particular standard (TEK) he was addressing. That's what yesterday's public testimony was supposed to be about - recommendations to changes in the social studies TEKS. 

Testifier: "I'm not addressing a standard, I'm addressing our Judeo-Christian values."

Allen pressed Chair Lowe, "Why is he allowed to testify? He is saying Islam brings death - what standard is he addressing?"

SBOE member Don McLeroy started frantically waving his hand to be recognized. 

Chair Lowe said she felt the testifier was making an overall statement about the TEKS, so it was acceptable that he was not addressing a specific TEK. 

McLeroy was recognized and he said, "What she said." (paraphrasing)

Allen expressed his displeasure again, and asked the testifier, "What religion was responsible for slavery?"

Testifier: "Slavery was caused by a fallen angel coming down to Earth."

Allen told him his comments were offensive. The testifier interrupted Allen saying he could be offended all he wanted, but Islam was coming and Islam was here and America was a Christian nation and Islam was death. 

Allen asked him at least two more times what TEK he was addressing, and Lowe kept explaining what the testifier meant.  

Lowe let this go on way too long. She had already twice laid out ground rules that testifiers could not make personal attacks on members. This was in response to two testifiers who used direct quotes from Terri Leo to prove their point. I can't imagine she would have let this much be said about the Christian religion.

Education Commissioner Robert Opines About Bloggers

Oh, my. From Stephen Schafersman with the Texas Observer (emphasis mine):

Commissioner of Education Robert Scott responds that the social studies standards adoption process is already a year behind and it is not advisable to delay further. "Let's get this process done." He also complained about the bloggers who, in his opinion, distorted the Board's work, such as the false claim that Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment was removed from the standards. As usual, Scott is confused and wrong, since Jefferson was indeed removed from that standard and the term "Enlightenment" was also removed so non-Enlightenment religious figures could be added. The intent of the malicious radical right Board members was to remove mention of the Enlightenment and the important role of Jefferson in it, and to include two religious authorities (Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin) who have nothing to do with the Enlightenment (indeed, they would have opposed it!).

In my opinion, Scott is both right and wrong. Plenty of bloggers, and folks in social media, have wailed about "Jefferson being taken out of the TEKS!" which is plainly not true. Those folks are obscuring the truth to make a political point, and they are taking advantage of unintelligent people. Scott has the right to complain about that.

On the other hand, Scott is wrong, and Schafersman does a great job explaining why.

Another piece of truth is that the social conservatives on the SBOE eliminated Jefferson from the Enlightenment philosophers (where he most certainly belongs and should be included), to make a political and religious point. Jefferson coined the term "separation of church and state, " which the social conservatives hate. Cynthia Dunbar successfully passed an amendment to kick out Jefferson and replace him with Christian philosophers (see Brian Thevenot's piece in the Texas Tribune for more background on that.)

Someone has to tell the whole story, when a public figure appointed by the Governor of Texas does not. Bloggers are part of the modern reality of reporting and opinion sharing - we are on the scene witnesses at SBOE board meetings, we have our own deep knowledge and expertise on government and education, and we are paying attention.The far right certainly bangs very loud pots and pans about "patriots" and their brand of Christianity.

What we need to do is swing the pendulum back in November and knock some folks out of office and out of jobs. And, then we need to get creative about undoing the bad social studies TEKS that will surely get passed tomorrow.

Remembering History: Texas History Textbook from 1895

I'm very deep into my family's genealogy (got sucked into ancestry.com and don't regret it!) and found the Portal to Texas History website, which serves as a repository for some original source documents.

I stumbled across a book on the Portal called A New History of Texas for Schools: Also for General Reading and for Teachers Preparing Themselves for Examination. It was published in 1895.

If you think the new Social Studies TEKS proposed by the SBOE are outrageous, and are concerned about their effects on textbooks, check this out from "New History." It makes you realize that politicizing and moralizing and shoving specific viewpoints on children, is not exactly new. The following excerpt is in two parts, because there was a page change. Click on the images to make them larger.

"Industrious Christians!" Maybe this will give the SBOE some ideas for amendments for Thursday's meeting. Watch for it.

Who's Who at the SBOE meeting

The crowd is thinning, but there are all sorts of interesting people here.

Linda Toyota who recently lost an HISD School Board race to Anna Eastman, just spoke suggesting some changes to the Social Studies TEKS. Her parents were in Japanese internment camps, and her father served in the armed forces. She read part of his unit's creed, expressing loyalty and service to the United States.

My friends here said some State Reps testified earlier, and they took up a lot of time - although they liked what the Democratic reps had to say.

State Reps who have testified today (from TFN Insider):

Republicans - Dan Flynn, Wayne Christian

Democrats - Trey Martinez Fischer, Sylvester Turner

UPDATE: Abby Rapoport with the Texas Observer notes that  Democratic State Reps Alma Allen, Ruth McClendon-Jones, and Dawnna Dukes testified, as well. Her reporting on the SBOE is terrific!

There's a whole row of college students in Save Our History t-shirts. Burnt Orange Report blogger, Michael Hurta is with that group!

I see a Sikh, Muslims, and veterans in uniform, in the audience.

They are barely through the first page of testifiers, out of what looks like about a five page list, front and back. We are all wondering when the Board Chair, Gail Lowe, is going to cut off public testimony. 5 PM?

Don't White Out History T-Shirts!

There are people here at the SBOE meeting in very awesome red t-shirts with the "Don't White Out Our History" logo on them.

I WANT ONE!

This is the logo I voted for.

Another great Texas Freedom Network effort! I heard the rally at 1 PM was HUGE!

How can the SBOE ignore all of these diverse voices? I'm telling you, this meeting is packed. The testimony is passionate on both sides. The comments from the far right members makes them appear to be uneducated. I'm being kind.

The Muse Has Landed! At the SBOE Meeting

Just got here. The place is packed and there is an overflow room. Lots of Latinos here. A long list of folks are testifying. It's public testimony day. Tomorrow the Board deliberates and amends the standards, and Friday they are likely to adopt new Social Studies TEKS.

I'm sitting beside TFN communications director, and TFN Insider blogger, Dan Quinn. He's been live blogging the public hearing all day. Here are some highlights from his posts this morning:

Former Education Secretary Rod Paige:

26 – Rod Paige, former education secretary under the second President Bush, is up.

9:27 – Paige: “We have allowed ideology to drive and define the standards of our curriculum in Texas. It has swung from liberal to conservative.” (We’re waiting for evidence that the Republican-dominated board and then-Gov. Bush’s education commissioner in 1998 adopted “liberal” curriculum standards.) The swing has been too broad, Paige says.

9:29 – Paige wants the board to reconsider how the standards cover the history of slavery and the civil rights movement: “I’m of the view that the institution of slavery and the civil rights movement are dominant elements in our history and shape who we are today.”

9:30 – Paige acknowledges comments from board members that the standards should be “fair” (“balanced,” we have heard). Yet, he says, history isn’t fair; it is what it is. The standards should teach the facts, he says.

9:37 – In making decisions about which historical figures to include in the standards, Paige says rely on established historians.

9:37 – Board member Terri Leo: Did you read the standards? Paige: Yes. Leo suggests that complaints about who is or isn’t in the standards is based on liberals who don’t think enough “progressives” are in the standards.

9:42 – Paige suggests that board member remember that not all events that have shaped our nation were positive. “Some,” he says, “were negative.” Of course, many board members have argued that social studies classes too often focus on negative aspects of American history. (One of Don McLeroy’s proposed standards tomorrow, for example, would have students compare positive portrays of America by immigrants with the views of Progressive Era reformers who saw serious problems challenging the nation, including racism, inhumane working conditions and the inability of women to vote.)

9:45 – Paige calls for the board to delay final adoption of the standards and continue work on the revision.

Board member shenanigans:

10:59 – David Bradley takes the opportunity to bash national standards. This has nothing to do, of course, with the debate today over Texas standards.

11:05 – Board member Ken Mercer seems to be suggesting that students taking the SAT won’t be tested on social studies — as if that’s an excuse to adopt bad standards because that won’t hurt Texas students’ to compete with kids from other states. Bizarre.

11:32 – Board member David Bradley calls separation of church and state a “myth.” He notes that the Ten Commandments adorn federal buildings like the Supreme Court.

11:37 – Board member Cynthia Dunbar: “tremendous confusion” about how the First Amendment should be implemented in relation to religious freedom. It’s hard to disagree — people like Dunbar and Shackelford have worked hard make it confusing.

And, here we are at this point:

3:56 – We’ve heard from little more than 10 percent of the more than 200 people signed up to testify today. No word yet on whether the board will cut off testimony at a certain time.

And, I've just heard a testifier dismiss slavery as insignificant in the most idiotic fashion imaginable. SBOE Board Member Lawrence took her to school and around the block a couple of times hitting her over the head with facts about slavery, to which his fellow Board member Tincy Miller replied (to the testifier in an American flag shirt, not to Allen), "I wish you had been my history teacher." WOW.

This is a bizarre atmosphere. It's painful to hear some of this.

Read Dan's recap on TFN Insider!

SBOE to Vote on Science Textbooks on Friday

As a reminder, here's my breakdown of the SBOE's agenda this week, Tuesday-Thursday - at this link. 

One of the responsibilities of the Texas State Board of Education is to release what are called "Proclamations" which sets the textbook adoption process in motion, specifically the bidding process by textbook publishers.

Proclamation 2012 is the one that should put new science textbooks in schools, grades K-12, in the fall of 2012. But, as I mentioned yesterday, the SBOE was supposed to take action on Proc 2012 at the July 2009 meeting, but they put it off three times, and here it was again on their agenda yesterday.

The grim reality is that the Legislature did not set aside enough money to fully fund Proc 2012, so what options did the SBOE have - fund certain grades, put it off entirely (again), or  . . . fund supplemental materials only?

They are going with the last option for high school core courses only, with possibly the addition of middle school supplementals as well. The supplementals would literally be supplemental textbook materials only addressing the new parts of the Science TEKS that the SBOE adopted last year. The final vote on this comes on Friday, but their motions and voting yesterday was all about putting off Proc 2012 indefinitely, and only funding supplementals.

You can read my livetweeting of their discussion on this at @museblogger (scroll down to start at the beginning of their discussion.) To cut to the chase, the big disappointment in observing their discussions was to see that they were in absolute shock that there is a timeline problem. "You mean we approved new Science TEKS last year that are required to be implemented this Fall without there being new textbooks in schools? Wait, are you also saying high schools are required to start implementing End of Course Exams in Science in the Spring of 2012 - with no new textbooks in schools? Can someone show me a chart on this? Really? What are we supposed to tell our constituents back home?" Yeah, the discussion went pretty much like that. By the way, I have a chart on that - that I created. As well as a side by side chart of new science TEKS and old science TEKS - that I created, with implications for instruction. Sigh.

Something I don't think they realize is that only Biology has an End of Course Exam in the Spring of 2012. The Chemistry End of Course phases in the Spring of 2013, and Physics the Spring of 2014. But, all grades - K-12 - have new Science TEKS, with the most dramatic changes coming in middle school. I can't see how supplemental materials for those grades would be anything less than a new textbook.

By the way, textbook publishers were clearly a part of TEA offering up supplementals as a solution to lack of funding for Proc 2012 (that was obvious from the discussions yesterday.) This is a better option for them than losing the opportunity to make money off of Science textbooks in Texas all together.

A couple of things to note:
1. Even with a shortened timeline on getting supplementals ready to implement in schools vs. the timeline for getting traditional textbooks ready, it will be the new SBOE members (the ones elected this November) who will have the decision making power as to their content, not the current Board.
2. Supplementals mean the new TEKS - the changes that were not palatable to most of the Science community - will be highlighted and presented in a separate way.
3. The SBOE is behind on issuing the Proclamation for Social Studies books - Proc 2013 should be issued at this meeting, but that is not on the agenda - or the horizon.
4. The shortened timeline for adoption of supplementals means the review of the materials will occur next Spring - when teachers are teaching (the ones who usually comprise the textbook review committees.) So, TEA would possibly have to look elsewhere for reviewers.

Tincy Miller was a voice of reason on the Board yesterday - and the only one who remembered History (yep, I'm punting to today's agenda with that) - with her warnings that there is no guarantee the Lege will provide even enough funding for supplemental materials. Don McLeroy was alarmed that second graders might read science materials off of a computer, which makes no difference at all because the Lege already mandated that school districts can spend their textbook allotment on digital materials, rather than hard copy textbooks. Welcome to 2012 and the digital world, Mr. McLeroy.

So, in the middle of all the hollering and screaming about the Social Studies standards, we have this - science textbooks on the SBOE agenda for final voting on Friday.

Pop the popcorn, and keep watching.

This Week's SBOE Agenda - With My Musings

The Texas State Board of Education meets this week to consider, and probably adopt new social studies standards (TEKS) for K-12 public schools. Here's how the daily agendas break down, with my commentary in black:

Tuesday, May 18, 1 PM. Full board meets to address: 

Note: There will be public testimony taken on discussion and action items.

1. Discussion of pending litigation (executive session.) There is a charter school issue on the agenda. This is not the massive lawsuit many people are expecting from Texas school districts regarding lack of funding for constitutionally mandated equitable public education - that one will be against the State of Texas, and the Legislature will have to deal with it.

2. Consider rule change to graduation requirements. There will be a petition before the board to consider allowing seniors graduating in 2011 to substitute some career courses for the P.E. requirement. I'm not sure what this is about, but I don't know why we'd have P.E. requirements and then substitute something that has no physical activity requirements for full P.E. credit.

3. Proclamation 2012 of the State Board of Education Advertising for Bids on Instructional Materials. This is the SBOE action that sets the process in motion for bids for new science textbooks for grades K-12 that will be based on the new science TEKS adopted by the SBOE in 2009.  This action was first considered by the SBOE in July 2009, then was put off until September 2009, then was put off again until March 2010, and was put off again for this Tuesday. My expectation is that it will be put off again, due to the State's massive budget shortfall. Worth noting it that the new SBOE board elected this November will be in charge of selecting the science instructional materials, not this current board that adopted the new science standards. Repeat after me, "elections matter."

4. Update on Commissioner's list of electronic textbooks. I'm very interested in this. In 2009, the State Legislature passed a law allowing school districts to use their textbook money to purchase electronic textbooks and the necessary hardware to go with them (instead of purchasing actual hard cover textbooks.) The Commissioner is required by this law to adopt these materials. The SBOE can discuss his choices, but can take no action. I'm a fan of students using electronic textbooks rather than hard cover books, because they can open up links to supporting videos, demonstrations (of experiments, for example) and original source documents (think historical diaries, court documents, etc. for social studies.)

Wednesday, May 19th. Committee of the Full Board, 9 AM: 

1. Public hearing on revisions to the proposed social studies TEKS. This is the biggie and what all the protests and press conferences will be about. Here's what will happen on Wed. and Thursday - the religious right group on the Board has the numbers to do whatever they want, so no one should get their hopes up. The math on the numbers, plus the fact this is the last stand for a couple of them - Dunbar did not run for re-election, and McLeroy lost his Republican Primary - mean that they will run roughshod over Texas school children, and impose standards that are not going to be palatable for those of us who are intellectual and whose religious beliefs require that we put others before ourselves, particularly "the least of these" among us, as well as the throngs of people who are for quality public education (but who may or may not be voting in the SBOE elections.)

This will be a long day. I plan on arriving at the meeting in the early afternoon, where I will liveblog here at musings, or live tweet at @museblogger.

Thursday, May 20th. Committee of the full Board, 9 AM:

1. Discussion and training on parliamentary procedures. I guess this is to help them figure out how to deal with the wild day they are going to have, due to public and media attention? Watch for the far right to use parliamentary rules to quash any discussion they don't like.

2. Commissioner's comments on the SBOE agenda. This is Commissioner Robert Scott's opportunity to lay out his political agenda . . . I mean, set the tone, for today.  His tone with the Mexican American Legislative Caucus hearing last month was, “One of the things, I think, that has been a problem in all of our deliberations regarding – whether it’s education or anything else – is that when you push out a particular group, and say we don’t care about you, when you push out, regardless of who that is, over time that creates a problem. And when the pendulum swings back, you know, there’s – whether you call it payback or a shifting in the alignment . . ." He's referring to the poor, underserved religious right who ran for the SBOE (and won) in order to make their agenda a mandate for Texas school children.

3. Second reading and final adoption of the social studies standards. There will be no more public testimony taken today, although when they adopted the science standards, the Chair allowed some public input from their hand picked religious right advisors. It's possible they will punt the final decision on the standards to the next meeting, if this goes on too long. Wednesday and Thursday are both going to be long days for the members. What will happen today - members will submit many amendments to the standards. McLeroy's amendment agenda has already been exposed - here, here, and here. Lisa Falkenberg, with the Houston Chronicle provides the best read on this, in my opinion. The far right members have been prepped with amendments from their fanatic advisors, and the public and media will follow along for the ride, trying to decode the code words for "push our craziness on school kids who can't vote, and whom we really don't care about." Again, worth noting - textbook selection for social studies will be made by the next SBOE board - the one elected in Nov. 2010.

4. Review potential changes to the long term asset allocation plan to the Permanent School Fund. Where there's money involved, there are these activities -  power grabs, lining of your own pockets, corruption, cronyism - and the SBOE is no exception. Quick background on the Permanent School Fund can be found here and here.

You can watch the SBOE meetings live, on the internet at this link.

Fort Bend ISD Making Even More Unpleasant Cuts

Fort Bend ISD, in another cost cutting move, is cutting substitutes:

The district said it averages an expense of $26,000 per day on subs, and each day it spends approximately half of a teacher salary on subs. So far this year, it said the cost is approximately $3.5 million.

On Thursday, the district announced it can't afford to pay all the subs and has capped the number at about 350.

Other district employees such as administrators and counselors will fill in for teachers. If coverage for a particular period is not possible, students will be moved into other teachers' classrooms for supervision.

According to the district, absence rates usually peak on Fridays.

What's not clear is how many subs they are using per day currently - how many over 350?  Having administrators and counselors cover classes just means they want get to do their real jobs dealing with a never ending streams of kids and their almost unimaginable (to the non-educator adult population) issues and situations all day long. Stuffing kids into another classroom is another terrible idea. I've never seen that work any other way than a bunch of kids sitting in a corner of a room, disrupting the class they were sent into.

Kids are the losers on this.

The district was facing an $18 million plus budget deficit and they've already laid off teachers and paraprofessionals, rerouted buses, canceled activity buses after school (which I have a question about - how will my daughter get to football games to perform in the halftime show?) and probably a myriad of other unpleasant things I don't know about.

Anyway, you can thank Governor Rick Perry and his legislative cronies who set out to starve public education in Texas and are seeing their efforts come to fruition.

Joe Jaworski is the New Mayor of Galveston!

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that 100% of the vote is in and Joe Jaworski has won the Mayor's race without a runoff!

Mayor	In:	100%
Joe Jaworski	3,460	51.2%
Betty Massey	1,720	25.5%
William Quiroga	119	1.8%
Greg Roof	96	1.4%
Danny Webber	1,359	20.1%

I'm a little confused, though, because The Galveston County Daily News has been showing no mail ballot totals reporting (see here.) I was at Jaworski HQ today in Galveston, blockwalking for Joe, and his campaign manager said that there were over 700 mail ballots cast and that there was some sort of mess at the county elections office getting them in and counted - and that they were sending out mail ballots to those who requested them as late as yesterday. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I'd like to get this cleared up - are the mail ballots in the 100% total above?

I can't find the results on the Galveston County elections website. If anyone has the link, please leave it in the comments.

Jaworski Has 51.3% in Galveston Mayor's Race. 91% of Vote In!

Go, Joe! Here is the latest breakdown from the Houston Chronicle:

Mayor	In:	91%
Joe Jaworski	3,104	51.3%
Betty Massey	1,566	25.9%
William Quiroga	109	1.8%
Greg Roof	91	1.5%
Danny Webber	1,180	19.5%

We'll know soon if Joe won tonight without a runoff! 


Also, the stadium complex bond issue is going to lose. Jaworski came out against it:

Galveston ISD
Bond issue ($35 million for stadium complex)	In:	91%
For	2,029	33.1%
Against	4,099	66.9%

68% of Vote In: Jaworski Leads 51.1% in Galveston Mayor's Race

Great photo of the three front runners in the Galveston Mayors' race from the Galveston County Daily News! In order from left to right - Jaworski, Massey, Weber.

Below are up to date election results from the Houston Chronicle. With 68% of the vote in, Jaworski still leads. I'm hoping he can hang on and avoid a runoff! According to the Galveston County Daily News:

If no candidate achieves a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff June 19.

Mayor	In:	68%
Joe Jaworski	2,864	51.1%
Betty Massey	1,450	25.9%
William Quiroga	106	1.9%
Greg Roof	85	1.5%
Danny Webber	1,097	19.6%

Early Voting Results in Galveston Mayor's Race - Jaworski Leads!

I block walked in Galveston three times for my friend Joe Jaworski for mayor, including today. The great news is that he leads in the 3000 early votes cast  - and he's over 50%! From GuidryNews.com:

Galveston - Early Vote Mayor:

Joe Jaworski 1,549 (52.12 percent)

Betty Massey 832 (27.99 percent)

William Quiroga 40

Greg Roof (Announced he would cease campaign after the deadline to withdraw) 35

Danny Weber 516

Joe had a message of "not business as usual." I was happy to volunteer my time for Joe because I know him as extremely hard working, smart and caring. He's worked hard to identify his vote and to get it out. I loved that he put his cell phone on all of his campaign literature, and if I talked to voter who I felt would benefit from a call from him, he would call him or her immediately.

Go, Joe!

UPDATE, 8:02 PM: And, 32 minutes after I tweeted out the above early voting results, the Houston Chronicle finally puts the results up on their May 8 election results page. It's laid out a little nicer than Guidry, and it's easier to see how the other two main contenders are doing (not as well as they hoped, I'm sure):

Galveston
Mayor	early voting
Joe Jaworski	1,549	52.1%
Betty Massey	832	28.0%
William Quiroga	40	1.3%
Greg Roof	35	1.2%
Danny Webber	516	17.4%

UPDATE 8:12 PM: And, here are the early vote results for Galveston ISD's bond election for a very expensive new stadium (multi-purpose - $35 million? $65 million? The price kept going up):

Galveston Independent School District - Early VoteBond election to build a new multi-purpose facility, including a stadium.For 1,027
Against 1,917


UPDATE 8:18 PM: 59% of the vote in. Hoping Joe can with this tonight without a runoff!

Mayor	In:	59%
Joe Jaworski	2,634	51.0%
Betty Massey	1,342	26.0%
William Quiroga	99	1.9%
Greg Roof	73	1.4%
Danny Webber	1,013	19.6%