I look forward to working hard for the school children of Harris County. My focus will be to expand the Head Start program and eliminate the waiting lists that now deprive children of their possibility of success.

President-Elect Obama has a dynamic plan to improve public education and we will continue to use this web site to keep you informed of these new initiatives as they begin in Harris County. Please invite those interested in public education to join our e-mail list.

If you'll open today's paper, you'll see that the Houston Chronicle has endorsed me for the Harris County Department of Education.

The endorsement:

"Recently retired from two decades at Lanier Middle School, Henley was a revered teacher of history and debate. His power and originality as a debate coach led the Lanier debate team to win national championships five times between 2003 and 2007.

Henley shows the same dedication in his proposals for at-large Position 7. He pledges to expand programs and reduce waiting lists for early childhood education, scour the budget to ensure all county education tax dollars are well-used and insists on accountability from administrators, educators and families to stanch the county's devastating 40 percent dropout rate."

1. As a career classroom teacher, I strongly support public education. I support "rethinking" the status quo in public education. We must move from the 1950 & 60s educational model to address the needs of today's students as they compete in the global marketplace.
2. I will seek to expand programs for early childhood education & Head Start, programs that are proven to help students succeed and graduate. Waiting lists currently exist in Harris County and children are turned away from these programs.
3. I will carefully review the budget of the Harris County Department of Education to ensure that our tax dollars benefit the children of Harris County. Excessive administrative staffing and salaries will be eliminated.
4. I will be an advocate for paying master teachers to teach in our failing schools. The single most important educational reform is to place highly qualified motivated teachers in the classroom.
5. I believe in holding political leaders, administrators, teachers, students and parents accountable in reducing the 40% drop out rate in Harris County Schools.

Stan Stanart

Partisan politics, religious and cultural agendas have no place in public education. So why would candidates opposed to public education seek to control local and state school boards of education? For the past several years, religious conservatives have been running for and have been elected to school boards in Texas and across the United States. Recruited by a coalition of conservative groups such as The Christian Coalition and Focus On the Family, candidates are trained to downplay their agenda while seeking office. Please read the reasons Mr. Stanart gives for his candidacy to a select radio audience of listeners in January of this year. (Stanart in His Own Words)

I have invited Stan Stanart to debate the future of The Harris County Department of Education as candidates for the Trustee of the Harris County Department of Education At-Large Position 7.  

Many voters may be unaware of the campaign for At-Large Position 7, as this is a presidential election year that brings many distractions.

This past March Stan defeated the long serving President of the Harris County Department of Education Trustees in the Republican primary.

Traditionally, trustees have been non-partisan citizen volunteers who support public education.

In a radio interview prior to the Republican primary, Stanart stated that he was "highly entertaining doing away with the board".*  When asked by the conservative radio interviewer why he sought the office of trustee, Stanart gave a list of reasons, including being a Christian, a Republican activist, and leader of CLOUT (Citizens for Lowering Our Taxes). In his response, Stanart never mentioned education, schools, or children.

I hope that you would agree with me that the elimination of the Harris County Department of Education is an issue that should be publicly discussed and debated prior to Election Day.  Hopefully he will accept the invitation to debate the future of the Harris County Department of Education.

A series of three debates held across Harris County will provide voters with the opportunity to make an informed decision when they cast their ballot in the next few weeks.

I have stated that I am flexible on dates and venues and will work with Stan to schedule these debates during the month of October.

* (www.thewhatsupradioprogram.com - January 29, 2008. See Archives: guest, Stan Stanart for recorded interview).