Category: Content

 

In virtually every news report of parents demanding that public school librarians do their job and remove inappropriate or pornographic materials from school libraries, the book Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe is at the top of the objectionable titles list. So many librarians and school board members are defending the book that I figured I should read it. Since the Texas Education Association just released guidelines for library acquisitions that include parental monitoring, every Texas parent should probably read it too.

Gender Queer is an autobiographical graphic novel chronicling the first 30 years of Kobabe’s life, focusing on the difficulties she faced being a girl. Being a girl is no walk in the park, but what is striking about Kobabe’s story is that she determines early on that there is no path forward for her as a female.

As she tells her story of growing up, her parents have only cameo roles and are portrayed as self-absorbed hippies. She has siblings, but there’s no close family, there’s no community, no faith or church, no mentors at school. She says she is suffering from gender dysphoria — she wants to be a boy — but at no point does she or anyone in her family mention counseling or a medical consultation.

She believes she was arbitrarily assigned her female gender at birth, and she is convinced it was a mistake. She reports that as a child, she finally found her true self by reading pornography and stories by people who were also gender dysphoric.

Adults who define themselves as something other than straight or gay represent about 1% of the population, but almost everyone Maia comes into contact with in her book defines themselves this way.

She describes herself as nonbinary for a while, but the term apparently wasn’t unique enough for her. (Some say so many teenagers are using it that it has become the new “goth.”) At age 29, Kobabe decides to call herself “gender queer,” which will probably stick, since her book with that title is now a bestseller (due to the controversy it has caused).

The book includes graphic and gross descriptions of sex and masturbation. Any reasonably competent school librarian should be able to see in an instant that it is not appropriate for a public school library. Nevertheless, it has been found in schools all over Texas. Parents in a number of Texas towns, including Prosper and Keller , have demanded that it be removed.

Last week, the National Coalition Against Censorship joined most of the state’s newspaper editorial pages in chastising Texas parents for demanding that these kinds of books be taken out of public school libraries. The NCAC alleges the parents are “censoring books and denying students the well-rounded education that is essential to preserving a healthy democracy.”

They can’t be serious. Clearly, they have not read Gender Queer. Whether the book is pornographic is up for debate, as pornography always is. But there is no censorship here. Determining what kinds of books are in public school libraries paid for by taxpaying parents is very different than saying Gender Queer shouldn’t be in any library. No one is saying that.

Parents should read this book for two reasons: first, to see what not to do when rearing adolescents. Kobabe’s story includes so many opportunities for her parents to intervene and help, but they never do. Instead, she is given carte blanche approval to pursue a quest that ultimately can lead to dangerous puberty blockers and surgery and put her at higher risk for suicide.

It is no accident that Black Lives Matter advocates getting rid of nuclear families altogether so that children will not be hindered from saying they are boys when they are girls and vice versa. These activists insist that “everyone should choose if they are a boy or a girl or both or neither.”

Parents should read the book to be aware of how their children are being indoctrinated into phony notions of gender fluidity. Ridiculous terms such as “assigned female at birth” and “nonbinary” have become normalized in our schools.

But even kindergartners understand that sex is binary — boys are boys, and girls are girls. That’s apparently why there has been such blowback in Florida over legislation to stop the teaching of homosexuality and gender identity to children aged 3 through 7.

Again, they can’t be serious.

 

Texans were horrified to learn of the Department of Family and Protective Services’ mishandling of allegations that children in its care were sexually exploited at a shelter intended to protect victims of sex trafficking. In the weeks since the story made it clear that DFPS has broken its promise to children to take them to a place that is safer than the place where they were in, the Texas House and Senate convened emergency hearings to get to the bottom of what happened, as did the judge overseeing the decade-old federal lawsuit against the state’s foster care system.

This outrage is just the latest in a long line of heartbreaking, avoidable incidents that are rooted in organizational dysfunction and a toxic internal culture. Private providers, foster parents and even its own employees have described the department’s approach to internal management and external oversight as “punitive,” “crisis-driven,” fear-based, and lacking a unifying vision and clear guiding principles.

This toxicity permeates the organization, rendering it utterly incapable of protecting the children in its care. And it’s resistant to change. Efforts at reforming the department have either been ignored, delayed or poorly implemented.

The problems plaguing DFPS have been well-known for at least a decade. In 2011, Texas was sued in federal court on behalf of children in its permanent care. The lawsuit alleged that conditions in the state-run foster care system were so bad that they violated the constitutional rights of the children. In 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that children in the custody of the department routinely leave more damaged than when they entered. As part of her ruling, Jack required the state to comply with a series of remedial orders intended to fix the problems with the system.

Following Judge Jack’s ruling, the Texas Legislature got to work enacting reforms to give the department the tools needed to turn things around. In 2017, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 11, which laid out a blueprint for reform, including standards that should have prevented anything like this from ever happening. For example, the legislation sought to increase accountability for DFPS and providers on delivering optimal outcomes for children, establish a quality assurance framework, strengthen standards for child protective services investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect, and improve monitoring of DFPS contractors.

SB 11 represented a fundamental transformation of the Texas child welfare system designed to make it safer and more responsive to the unique needs of children, while increasing the role of local communities in caring for their most vulnerable.

Yet, nearly five years after the bill was signed into law, it has yet to be fully implemented.

In response to DFPS all but completely ignoring the Legislature, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst passed Senate Bill 1896 to address continuing safety problems within the foster care system and spur the full implementation of past reforms. Again, the Legislature has been ignored.

Gov. Abbott made foster care an emergency item during the 85th Legislature, including it on the call for multiple special sessions, convening workgroups and directly ordering the commissioners of both DFPS and the Health and Human Services Commission to comply with the remedial orders. Yet DFPS remains entrenched in the same cycles of failure.

More funding is routinely touted as the solution to the problems plaguing the Texas foster care system but the data show substantially increasing funding for DFPS has not been a path to positive outcomes for foster children.

The Legislature has increased the department’s budget by more than $800 million since 2015 and has authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in additional emergency appropriations during that same period. The problems have only gotten worse.

A major focus of this infusion of cash has been increasing caseworker salaries to reduce turnover and maintain manageable caseloads. In late 2016, the Legislature approved an emergency request by DFPS for $150 million to immediately raise caseworker annual salaries by $12,000 and hire an additional 829 employees. After the investment, staff turnover dramatically decreased in 2017 and caseloads began coming down. However, these gains proved short-lived. Staff turnover began increasing again in 2018 and spiked to its highest rate in a decade by 2021. While it’s likely the pandemic played some role in that spike, it doesn’t explain why in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the percentage of staff turnover was about the same as the turnover percentage in 2019. Clearly, infusing more money into a broken system isn’t the answer.

There is one promising solution that has been recommended for years but hasn’t been attempted yet. It calls for a complete reorganization of DFPS, with a focus on transforming the agency’s management and culture. This recommendation has been repeated by numerous outside experts hired by the state to provide guidance on ending the crisis.

In 2014, for example, the Stephen Group noted that “the missing key ingredient” was a “unifying vision that clearly defines success and demonstrates how to get there.” A 2016 progress report on the implementation of the Stephen Group’s recommendations found that while some progress was being made, the department was struggling to embed changes into practice and had yet to develop a positive culture of transformation and excellence. Earlier this year, an expert panel report published in connection with the ongoing federal lawsuit stated the need for leadership to “immediately adopt and apply a set of shared values and principles” and work to rebuild relationships between the department and service providers.

The latest scandal sparked immediate action from legislative leaders. Within 24 hours of the story breaking, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick established the Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services. The special committee is tasked with investigating the department’s continual failures and putting all options on the table to transform the agency.

That’s a good start. If it follows through with this directive, the special committee has the opportunity to bring long-overdue change to DFPS and enable Texas to once again keep its promise to the state’s most vulnerable children.

Hispanic Texans overwhelmingly support letting parents choose where their kids go to school, regardless of what district they live in, even if it is a charter or private school. They put border security and immigration as the top of the list of the most pressing problems the Texas Legislature should address, with nearly three-quarters agreeing there is a crisis at the Texas border. 

The results come from a new survey of Hispanic Texans from every region of the state. The study examines support and opposition to certain public policy issues, as well as attitudes Hispanic Texans hold toward the state, America and how they are treated in society. The poll was conducted by WPA Intelligence for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.  

“Like most Americans, Hispanic Texans care deeply about public safety and the quality of education for their kids and future generations,” said Rafa Bejar, TPPF’s Director of Outreach. “They see the crime and violence in their communities and the federal government’s unwillingness to respond to the border crisis, so it’s no wonder that this is chief among their concerns.”  

According to the survey, 73% believe there is a “crisis” at the Texas border and 51% want more to be done.  More than 60% want more law enforcement and only 13% believe that less should be done.   

Behind border security and immigration, education is the third most important issue. Fully 78% say parents should have “the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to whatever school, public, charter or private school, that best serves their needs.” A strong majority, 89%, believe parents should have access to everything that is being taught in their child’s classroom and 65% believe school boards should listen to their concerns and treat them with respect.   

In sharp contrast to the mainstream media narrative, almost 90% of Texas Hispanics say they are proud to be Americans. Just over half of Hispanic Texans feel they are treated equally by Anglo Texans and 84% say they are proud to call themselves Texans. A strong majority believe they have access to the American dream and 72% say that the “Lone Star State image including the Alamo and the Texas Revolution” are part of their heritage.   

“Hispanic Texans have a deep connection to America and Texas because of our founding principles and the promise of individual liberty, equal opportunity, and shared values,” said TPPF Distinguished Fellow Sherry Sylvester, who also heads up the foundation’s campaign to “Keep Texas Texan.” “Hispanics have had tremendous influence on what it means to be Texan and a strong claim to our state heritage. The data thankfully shows the attempt by some in the media to sever that connection has failed spectacularly.”  

Hispanic Texans are evenly split on their approval and disapproval of President Joe Biden: 47% to 46%.  A majority, 61%, believe that inflation is the result of bad policies, and they trust the federal government less than state and local governments. Half believe that individuals and not government should decide whether they should be vaccinated and what medications they can use.   

Like most Texans, 71% describe their local property taxes as a “major burden” and 74% believe they are treated “very fairly” by law enforcement in their communities.  

The poll surveyed 608 Hispanic adults from February 14 – 23 and has a margin of error of +/- 4%.  

View the results here.  

Whether their families have been here for generations, or they just arrived in a U-Haul last week, Texans have stories to tell about the battles they have fought and the victories they have won to keep the lone star state the special place it is.

Tune in as TPPF Distinguished Senior Fellow, Sherry Sylvester, is joined by Senator Brandon Creighton on the first episode of the People of Texas Podcast.

Whether their families have been here for generations, or they just arrived in a U-Haul last week, Texans have stories to tell about the battles they have fought and the victories they have won to keep the lone star state the special place it is.

The People of Texas podcast, hosted by TPPF Distinguished Senior Fellow, Sherry Sylvester, explores the stories of modern-day Texas icons.

Sherry Sylvester, a Texas Public Policy Foundation Distinguished Senior Fellow, will be available on Election Night to analyze the results of the 2022 Texas Primary Elections and their impact on policy and politics in the Lone Star State going forward.

Sylvester has worked at the nexus of politics and public policy for decades.  She has directed multi-million dollar statewide campaigns in New York and New Jersey, as well as Texas, and has been involved in dozens of Texas legislative campaigns. Campaigns and Elections Magazine has called her a “respected veteran” of hard-fought elections and in 2005, her alma mater, the Graduate School of Political Management, now at George Washington University in Washington D.C., named her “Alumni of the Year,” for her accomplishments in the field of professional politics.

Sylvester has has experience on both sides of the aisle. Early in her career Sherry served as Communications Director for U.S. Senate candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman ever nominated for Vice President on a major party ticket. She also worked for David Dinkins, the first African-American to be elected Mayor of New York City. In Texas, she was a member of the original campaign and transition teams of Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, and she managed his 2018 re-election campaign. She served for seven years as Senior Advisor to the Lt. Governor.

Sherry is also an award-winning journalist who has appeared on numerous national television and radio shows and has published hundreds of pieces of political commentary. In Texas, she covered politics for the San Antonio Express-News.   

The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual Policy Orientation brings together the most influential thought leaders and policymakers for the premier policy gathering highlighting national, state, and local issues. 

This year, the conversations fostered during Policy Orientation are even more vital as they come at a time when we must face new challenges, embrace new opportunities, and set a course for public policy that will last generations. 

Press credentials are still available for in-person or virtual attendance. 

Here’s what’s on the agenda for today: 

Thursday, January 20, 2022 

7:00 AM Registration Opens  

8:00-9:15 AM Keynote Breakfast with Rob Henneke, State Attorneys General Ken Paxton (TX), Leslie Rutledge (AR), and Sean Reyes (UT): Back Off: States Unify to Protect Americans’ Rights from the Biden Overreach 

9:30-10:45 AM Concurrent Panels II  

Crime and Consequences: Conservative Solutions for a Broken Criminal Justice System 

Billions of tax dollars and the safety of our communities are held hostage with every emotional, knee-jerk reaction from the left—such as “defunding the police” or releasing violent criminals on “everyone deserves it” bonds. Join us for a conversation on data-driven, money-smart and common-sense solutions for keeping our communities and families safe. 

Panelists 

• Brett Tolman – Executive Director for Right on Crime, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• JaRon Smith – Fellow, Right on Crime, TPPF 
• Brian Hawthorne – Sheriff, Chambers County  

• Scott MacNaughton – Law Enforcement, Public Safety  

 

Out of Air: How Unmitigated Wind Development Threatens the Environment and Human Livelihoods 

The growing wind industry is increasingly looking offshore to capture ample wind resources, especially in the Northeast U.S. However, the impact of this development on commercial fishermen, endangered species, and grid reliability is being ignored. Hear from a group of Rhode Island and Long Island fishing families who are suing the federal government to properly enforce its laws, and how Texas could be impacted by the outcome. 

Panelists 

• Honorable Jason Isaac – Director of Life:Powered, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Meghan Lapp – Fisheries Liaison and General Manager, Seafreeze Shoreside 
• Bonnie Brady – Executive Director, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association 
• Honorable Jared Patterson – Texas State Representative, Texas House of Representatives  

 

The Accidental Activist: The Extraordinary Rise of the Unlikely Grassroots 

While states rush to ban Critical Race Theory, local changemakers are hard at work in their hometowns, making headway in the fight for their students’ education at the local school board level. This panel will explore why local involvement is so crucial in ensuring every student can thrive in an environment best suited for their educational needs.  

Panelists 

• Lucy Vander Laan – Campaign Director, Next Generation Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Ian Prior – Executive Director, Fight for Schools 

• Kimberly Hermann – General Counsel, Southeastern Legal Foundation 
• Hannah Smith – Trustee, Carroll ISD  

 

11:00 AM-12:15 PM Concurrent Panels III 

School House Shock: Reasserting a Parent’s Role in a Child’s Education 

Parents should be the ones making decisions about their children’s education, but they’ve found that education officials often are not interested in the concerns parents have with school curricula. Learn how families can regain control over their children’s education and build a better future for the next generation. 

Panelists 

• Michael Barba – Policy Director, K-12 Education, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Corey DeAngelis, Ph.D. – National Director of Research, American Federation for Children 

• Kurtis Indorf – President, Great Hearts Nova 
• (V) Honorable Chris Sprowls – Speaker, Florida House of Representatives 

 

Taking On Tech: Is Regulation the Right Tool to Fight Censorship? 

Social media is far from the days of being a place for silly videos and food pictures—it’s America’s public square. We’ll discuss how policymakers should approach handling Big Tech censorship on the largest platforms in the world.  

Panelists 

• Honorable Zach Whiting – Senior Fellow of Technology Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• W. Scott McCoullough – Principal, McCollough Law Firm PC 
• Rachel Bovard – Senior Director of Policy, Conservative Partnership Institute 
• Honorable Bryan Hughes – Texas State Senator, Texas Senate 

 

A Job: The Ultimate Anti-Poverty Program 

Employment is a fundamental and necessary step toward restoring dignity and purpose and putting individuals on a pathway to success. Join us to discuss how Texas can reshape safety net programs to include and prioritize getting people back to work. 

Panelists 

• Vance Ginn, Ph.D. – Chief Economist, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 

• Leslie Ford – Visiting Fellow, Heritage Foundation  
• Honorable Tan Parker – Texas State Representative, Texas House of Representatives 
• Randall Hicks – President & CEO, Georgia Center for Opportunity  

 

12:30-1:45 PM Keynote Lunch With Chris Rufo: Transparency  

Legislation: Fighting CRT and Political Indoctrination in Schools  

 

2:15-3:30PM Concurrent Panels IV  

Bidenomics: Inflation, Taxation, and Desperation 

Join us to discuss the economic impact of the Biden economy—inflation, supply chain issues, etc. 

Panelists 

• Honorable Chuck DeVore – Vice President of National Initiatives, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Vance Ginn, Ph.D. – Chief Economist, TPPF 
• Steve Moore – Co-Founder, Committee to Unleash Prosperity 

• Tyler Goodspeed – Kleinheinz Fellow, Stanford University 

 

Do No Harm: Facing the Harsh Reality of Gender Modification 

Doctors performing experimental and harmful gender modification procedures on children is a growing problem in Texas. Join us for a discussion on what can be done to protect families and children.  

Panelists 

• Derek Cohen, Ph.D. – Vice President of Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Quentin Van Meter – Pediatric Endocrinologist; President, American College of Pediatricians 
• (V) Jennifer Bilek – Author/Founder, The 11th Hour Blog 

1620-1836: The War on Texas Identity 

Liberty, independence, and perseverance are in in the Texas DNA, part of the spirit of America that beats strongly in the heart of every Texan. Join our panel of eminent historians to discuss woke attempts to undermine American values and spirt and deny our Texas identity by re-writing our history—from 1620 to 1836 and beyond.  

Panelists 

• Sherry Sylvester – Distinguished Senior Fellow, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Peter Wood – President, National Academy of Scholars 
• Don Frazier, Ph.D. – Director, The Texas Center at Schreiner University 
• Ernesto Rodriguez – Senior Curator and Historian, The Alamo 

3:45-6:00 PM General Session 

Convention of States Going Local 

Speaker 

• Albert Torres – State Director, Convention of States  
• Erika Hatfield – State Information Analyst, Convention of States 

Navigating the Healthcare System 

Dr. Marty Makary will discuss his work in helping patients navigate the complexity of the healthcare system. 

Speaker 

• Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H. – Professor, Johns Hopkins University 

 

Step Aside Silicon Valley: A Vision for Texas as the Leader for New Tech 

Interview with the Honorable Zach Whiting of TPPF and Rex Founder, Peter Rex 

Panelists 

• Honorable Zach Whiting – Senior Fellow of Technology Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Peter Rex – Founder and CEO, Rex 

Election Protection: How to Safely Collect and Count Our Votes 

Fraud, irregularities, harvesting, corrections, delays. Our election system is fraught with threats that could cause citizens to lose their most basic right in a democracy. This panel will discuss how the cheaters cheat and propose next steps for ensuring reliable election results. 

Panelists 

• Honorable Chuck DeVore – Vice President of National Initiatives, Texas Public Policy Foundation (MODERATOR) 
• Christian Adams – President and General Counsel, Public Interest Legal Foundation 
• Hans von Spakovsky – Senior Legal Fellow, Heritage Foundation 
• Honorable John B. Scott – Texas Secretary of State 

Learn more about Policy Orientation and view the full agenda at PolicyOrientation.com. 

Click here to register for Policy Orientation as a member of the media. 

The 1836 Project Advisory Committee held its first meeting today, gaveled in by former TPPF CEO Kevin Roberts. Roberts was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to chair the Committee which was established by the Legislature in June to ensure that Texas preserves its unique history and heritage and continues to build on the state’s principles of freedom, patriotism and opportunity for all.  TPPF Distinguished Senior Fellow, Sherry Sylvester, who helms TPPF’s Keep Texas Texan project, was appointed by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to serve on the Committee.

Sylvester made this statement regarding the Committee:

“Our goal with the 1836 Project is to show that this place we call Texas—from the Alamo to Spindletop to NASA and beyond—has become a beacon of liberty and freedom and a global symbol of prosperity and opportunity because of the principles, hard-work and commitment of all the Texans who have come before us—men and women of every race and ethnicity—to make sure Texas is a place where the American dream can thrive.” 

The 1836 Project Advisory Committee was established with the passage of House Bill 2497 written by State Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound and State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe. Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan each appointed three members.  

Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation announced that Sherry Sylvester, a public policy and political communications expert and longtime senior advisor to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, has joined the foundation as a distinguished senior fellow.  Sylvester has extensive experience working in a number of public policy areas central to the work of TPPF, including education, health care, criminal justice, the economy, immigration and lawsuit reform. She will focus on Texas identity, narrative and history issues and will also work with leadership on strategic plan development and tactical communication. 

“We are beyond thrilled to have Sherry join the foundation as one of the most seasoned and experienced experts in the conservative movement in Texas,” said TPPF Chief Executive Officer Kevin Roberts. “Her tremendous breadth of knowledge, strong relationships, and effective communications skills will greatly benefit the people of Texas and our mission to keep Texas Texan. We look forward to having her good counsel make an immediate impact on our ability to influence the direction of the state and the country.” 

“I have been a fan of the Texas Public Policy Foundation for over two decades and have watched them become the leading conservative think tank in the nation,” said Sylvester. “The vision, vigilance and commitment of TPPF leadership over the years has resulted in public policies that have created prosperity, freedom and opportunity for every Texan. I look forward to being part of their work going forward.”