Incumbents hold seats on Texas Board of Education; social conservatives maintain majority

Preliminary results showed three area incumbents being re-elected and conservatives maintaining a 10-to-5 majority on the State Board of Education, which creates the state’s curriculum, approves textbooks and determines passing scores for the state-mandated assessment program.

Incumbents Patricia "Pat" Hardy, Mavis Best Knight and Gail Lowe had each received more than 60 percent of the vote, with 99 percent or more of the precincts reporting, in unofficial results.

Other incumbents across the state appeared to be having similar success.

The races for the state board have grabbed national attention, as science educators and advocacy groups said the election would affect how evolution is taught in the state’s next generation of science textbooks.

The board has drawn national attention recently for its decisions on public-school instruction, including:

The Texas Freedom Network has charged that the board intends to exploit the wording of the existing standards, which requires coverage of "strengths and weaknesses," to introduce religious ideas into classrooms. This year, some Texas scientists and educators formed the 21st Century Science Coalition to fight any discussion of weaknesses, saying there is no room for the supernatural in science.

Early results:

District 11: Includes most of Tarrant County as well as Ellis, Johnson and Parker counties. No Democrat entered the race. With all 585 precincts reporting, Hardy, a Republican, had gathered 84.3 percent of the vote in her race with independent Bruce Beckman.

District 13: Includes parts of Dallas and Tarrant counties. Knight, a Democrat, had received 74.5 percent of the vote in her race against Republican Cindy Werner, with all 524 precincts reporting.

District 14: Curves around the Metroplex, extending from Sherman to Wichita Falls to Waco. Includes Denton, Hood, Palo Pinto, Somervell and Wise counties. Lowe, a Republican, won 65 percent of the vote, compared with Libertarian John E. Shuey’s 3.7 percent and Democrat Edra Bogle’s 31.3 percent, with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting.

Also up for re-election were:

District 2: Democrat Mary Helen Berlanga had 59.2 percent of the vote in her race against Republican Peter H. Johnston, with all 539 precincts reporting.

District 6: Republican Terri Leo had 79.3 percent of the vote against Libertarian Mary Ann Bryan, with all 330 precincts reporting.

District 7: Republican David Bradley had 53.8 percent of the vote against Democrat Laura Ewing’s 43.5 percent and independent Richard R. Johnson’s 2.7 percent, with 99.8 percent of precincts reporting.

District 8: Republican Barbara Cargill had 85.4 percent against Libertarian Kim B Stroman’s 13.8 percent and independent Linda Ellis’ 0.8 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.