Texas State Board of Education District 7 candidates

Nine of the state's 15 state board of education seats are on the ballot this election, giving both Democrats and Republicans a chance to increase their influence over education in Texas. And one of them is the race for District 7, which covers communities in Brazoria, Galveston, Eastern Fort Bend, Chambers, and parts of the Beaumont area. Olivia Dance has more on the contrasting beliefs of the candidates and what's at stake. Well, in District 7, Republican incumbent Julie Pickren faces Democratic challenger and longtime educator Tiffany Perkins. And really at the heart of this race is a heated debate over recently overhauled social studies standards and the role of religion in classrooms. So Pickren is running on a platform of traditional conservative values. She did not respond to our request for comment, but her campaign site says she aims to ensure that every Texas child receives an education aligned with the American dream and Texas values. Her challenger, Perkins, is pushing for political and religious neutrality in classroom curriculum. Perkins has voiced concerns with the recently adopted social studies revisions that will take full effect in 2030. Pickren played a key role in crafting and passing those new standards. Meanwhile, Perkins says if elected, she plans to make a motion to reopen and amend them before they're fully implemented. The social studies, all of these laws that got us here, I've been working on for over 10 years with the House and the Senate, Texas House and Texas Senate. And so this is such a huge accomplishment. This vote kind of bookends 12 years of my life's work. And the standards are, in my opinion, not in the best interest of Texas students. They're not in the best interest of maintaining academic integrity. Instead, they're in the best interest of fulfilling and An ideological agenda, whitewashing American history, erasing African American history, forcing state mandated Bible study into the classrooms. So whether Texas continues on its current conservative curriculum pathway or pivots back toward revisions will depend heavily on down ballot races like District 7. Back to you.