- The Texas State Board of Education convened to clear the misunderstanding surrounding PragerU.
- The State Board of Education had not approved the PragerU as a vendor.
- Several advocacy organizations have joined the board members in criticizing PragerU, with Carisa Lopez.
Democratic members of the Texas State Board of Education convened a press conference to clear the misunderstanding surrounding PragerU, a conservative media organization that asserts its instructional materials are accessible in the state since it was on the “approved vendor list.”
A video starring CEO Marissa Streit and Julie Pickren, a Republican member of the State Board of Education from the Houston region, made the news on August 21.
Texas PragerU
Pickren later stated that PragerU was now on the Centralized Master Bidder List maintained by the Texas Comptroller and that the State Board of Education had not approved the company as a vendor.
According to Houston resident Staci Childs, a member of the State Board of Education, becoming a member of that list is straightforward, but receiving State Board of Education approval requires a different screening procedure.
Childs also expressed disappointment that Pickren would associate herself with PragerU’s materials, which support false information on subjects like slavery.
Florida is the first state in the United States to permit the use of the group’s videos in public education courses, despite PragerU’s misleading name.
Although Davis and other board members vowed to resist any attempt to formally approve the content of the group, Texas teachers are free to use PragerU resources with or without the state board’s sanction.
Several advocacy organizations have joined the board members in criticizing PragerU, with Carisa Lopez, Senior Political Director of Texas Freedom Network, calling the organization’s material “political propaganda.”
