Some good news from Texas:
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION Tone may moderate with new members
However, GOP likely to hang on to 2 key seats

Republicans will keep two key seats on the State Board of Education in Tuesday’s election, but Texans could see a more moderate tone in the makeup of the new board.

Republican Marsha Farney, of Georgetown, beat out Democrat Judy Jennings, of Austin, for the District 10 seat that runs from outside Harris County to Austin. Farney will replace Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, one of the leaders of the social conservatives, who decided against another term.

In another key contest, incumbent Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, easily outpaced Texas State University professor Rebecca Ball Metereau for the District 5 seat that runs from northern Bexar County to southern Travis County.

Dunbar’s retirement together with the upset defeats of two GOP incumbents in the primary last spring will give the board a new look, said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based group that monitors the State Board of Education.

Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, one of the leaders of the social conservatives, will leave the board at the end of the year as the result of his defeat by Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, in the GOP primary. Another GOP primary casualty was Geraldine “Tincy” Miller of Dallas, ousted by Dallas educator George Clayton. Miller had been on the board for 26 years.