I read a story today about public education in Texas that left me hopeful. Honestly, I didn't know that was still possible. This one involved a conservative school board trustee in Granbury, written by Jeremy Schwartz in the Texas Tribune (link: texastribune.org/2024/05/15/texas-granbury-isd-school-board-courtney-gore/). 
The trustee at the center of this story, Courtney Gore, won her election promising voters that she would eradicate inappropriate sexual and racial themes from school curriculum and school libraries. You've probably seen these kinds of attacks on public schools from right-wing extremists, claiming that porn can be found in the library, kids are being groomed by their teachers, and students are being indoctrinated in Marxism and critical race theory. Have you seen this stuff in your kids' schools? We haven't. Probably because this kind of stuff isn't in our schools. These spurious allegations are not really about porn, LGBTQ kids or communism. Instead they're part of a larger effort to undermine faith in our public schools – one of the most cherished institutions in Texas – so that they can be more easily drained of resources in the service of Gov. Abbott's voucher scheme. The idea: tear down public schools so that voters are less resistant to the idea of public school funds going to private schools. Though Gore, the Granbury ISD trustee, ran on this very platform, once she was elected and began to review school curriculum, policies and practices she found that the feared sexualization of kids was not happening. Nor were they being taught critical race theory. Gore concluded that she had been duped into supporting a slew of false accusations as a candidate. Much to her credit, she renounced the lies once she was in office and learned the truth. And while her stand has caused her a lot of personal grief with her former backers, she has also given hope to many in her district, perhaps giving others the courage to take on and defeat a number of MAGA candidates who recently attempted to take a majority on the school board. This story renews my faith that, beyond all the differences between us as Texans – including our partisan differences – we still by and large believe in the same core values, including protecting and improving public schools. Gore is facing intense pressure from MAGA extremists (one brought a gun to a school board meeting and said "we have profile sheets" on all the trustees; "We know what you do," he told them. "We know where you live."), but she has the courage of her convictions to do the right thing for the children, taxpayers and educators that she represents on the school board. We need more people doing the right thing for the right reasons; restoring our faith in democracy and public leadership. I'm confident that when we support pro-public education candidates, when we register and turn out new voters who are armed with the truth about these attacks on public schools, and when we do it everywhere – including in conservative and rural counties across Texas – we will get a better leaders and a better public education system for our state. That's why Powered by People volunteers put in the work to reach, register and turn out voters in every county in Texas. Your contribution ensures we have the resources to stay in the field, bring on new voters, and help good people run for and stay in office. DONATE Thank you for your help, Beto | 
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