Texas Is On Its Way to Turning Public Schools Into Jesus Camp

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where tuba players rehearse around the flagpole.

Before we begin our tour, we must send a shout-out to the gang at Al.com, whose coverage of the Yellowhammer State has been invaluable to our semi-regular weekly feature, and to the blog in general, since we opened this shebeen in 2011. This week, Al.com picked up two Pulitzer Prizes— one for their coverage of a renegade local police department, and another one for the redoubtable Kyle Whitmire's columns exploring how the twisting of history perpetuated white supremacy and perverted politics in Alabama down through the years. To paraphrase the late Sam Phillips, this is where the soul of journalism goes to live. Good on ya, folks.

Let's begin in Texas, the smallest barrel in which swim the biggest fish. The state legislature is well on its way to turning Texas public schools into Jesus Camps. The latest is a bill that would install fundamentalist Christian "chaplains" in every classroom. And that ain't the half of it. From the Dallas Morning News:

The Ten Commandments could be displayed in Texas public school classrooms and trustees could mandate districts grant students time for prayer and Bible reading under legislation approved by the Senate Thursday. The two bills — along with others up for consideration — are a sign of how the Legislature could be inserting more religion into public education. The moves are drawing concern about the separation of church and state. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement that the bills represent “one step we can take to make sure that all Texans have the right to freely express their sincerely held religious beliefs... believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind. Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans,” said Patrick, a Republican who oversees the Senate.

Ah, you say, but what about that pesky Establishment Clause in the First Amendment? The Bible-bangers in the Texas lege were emboldened by the carefully manufactured conservative majority on the Supreme Court and by its decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in which the Court ruled that a high school football coach had a right to conduct postgame prayer meetings on the 50-yard line because, to deny him that right, would be to infringe on his "religious liberty." This Court approaches Pandora's steamer trunk with a crowbar.

At the local level, school board elections are infused with highly partisan issues and big-money groups have attempted to “take over” some districts to make them more conservative. The bill to bring chaplains on campus, as well as the one to allow for Bible reading and prayer time during school, contain an unusual provision: School boards would have to vote on whether to approve such a plan within six months of the legislation passing.

The State Board of Education also became more conservative after the last election cycle. Republicans flipped a seat and candidates further to the right replaced more moderate ones. Among the new State Board of Education members is Julie Pickren, a former trustee from the Houston area who was in Washington during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pickren also sits on the board of the National School Chaplain Association, according to its website. The group has been pushing lawmakers to pass what they’ve labeled the “Chaplain’s Funding Bill.” She did not return a request for comment. “We are very close to putting God and prayer in public schools through chaplains,” the group wrote to its supporters in an email blast earlier this month about the Texas bill, along with a request for donations.

In the wingnut universe, everybody knows everybody else.

And they've all been very, very busy. Remember when conservatives argued that the best form of government was that form closest to the people. States, rather than the federal. Counties, rather than the states. Cities and towns, rather than the county. Mom and Pop, rather than the mayor. And so on. Yeah, that was cool. From NPR:

In recent years, national culture war debates have driven a surge of new legislation, known as preemption bills, in Republican state houses aimed at rolling back laws passed by more progressive cities. Mayors and advocates say the trend risks alienating voters who lose faith in the power of their local leaders. "What we're seeing lately is an increase of home rule grab type legislation," said Clarence Anthony, the CEO of the National League of Cities. "This year, there are 600 different preemptive laws that are being proposed by different legislatures throughout America. That, in fact, is a rise and it's very concerning to our municipal leaders." Bills targeting education, transgender and LGBTQ rights, housing policy, gun rights and policing are among the most prevalent in the legislative sessions this year, according to the NLC.

This is no longer shocking, as you know, if you've been following our semi-regular weekly survey. The conservative philosophy is to press every advantage to the wall and if, while doing so, you run over your previously trumpeted principles, well, nobody remembers anything anymore anyway. Take it from the folks in Missouri.

The national fight over crime, policing and public safety boiled over in Missouri this week as Republican state lawmakers pushed to transfer control of the St. Louis Police Department to a state-appointed board of trustees. The move was part of a broader crime reduction bill that included a plan to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee some criminal cases in the city. The legislation was removed Thursday after the city's embattled prosecutor, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, resigned as part of a broader agreement, according to reporting from St. Louis Public Radio.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said the attempt to overtake the police department would have overturned a statewide referendum that passed in 2012 granting St. Louis local control of their public safety..."It makes voters angry," Jones said. "Especially when they elect their leaders on the local level. Then they see that their leaders constantly have to fight for the rights of our cities." It is particularly stark when those voters have nobody to represent them state-wide. Advocates worry that voters who lose faith in the power of their local leaders may stop participating in elections all together.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Water Tank Spelunker Friedman of the Plains brings us the tale of how the Sooner State is bogged down in what we like to call the Scott Walker/Foxcomm Mire, with the extra twist of a state government that can't get out of its own way. From nondoc:

In the weeks leading up to Kisling’s resignation, questions mounted about Oklahoma’s overall strategy and coordination among state agencies — Commerce, the MidAmerica Industrial Park and the Grand River Dam Authority — and other groups, such as chambers of commerce, tribal nations and leading lobbyists.

Despite significant efforts from a variety of parties, the state’s offer to Panasonic has approached a thermal runaway, leaving onlookers to wonder if the company has requested more, if the state has fallen short, if mathematics were miscalculated, or if supply chain issues have simply inflated construction costs around the globe. Rumors that the Japanese company had concerns about Oklahoma’s strict abortion ban were dismissed by Treat, but other key negotiators said privately that the issue had been raised. Similarly, companies seeking to hire thousands of new employees must cast wide nets, and Oklahoma’s political leaders have largely opposed the mantras of diversity and inclusion.

This bungling of economic development, of course, should be catastrophic to a number of political careers but, with Jesus as your Commerce Department, how can you go wrong?

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.

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