The battle for control of the State Board of Education will largely be determined by Republican primary voters in four key races – and nowhere is the competition more fierce than for the seat that represents part of Collin County and much of East Texas.

Critical board decisions loom, including how new science textbooks cover evolution and which political figures are included in new history books. The two GOP candidates are slugging it out in a primary contest that will signal what those decisions might be. No Democrat filed, so the GOP winner is expected to cruise to election in November.

Don McLeroy of College Station, one of the most outspoken social conservatives on the panel, is facing perhaps his toughest challenger since he was first elected in 1998.

His opponent is Thomas Ratliff, a legislative consultant and lobbyist who has won the support of mainstream public education groups as he tries to shake up the increasingly powerful social conservative bloc on the board.

"I want to take politics out of our public schools," Ratliff said during a candidate forum in Richardson last week. The Mount Pleasant resident said Texans are tired of political posturing on the board as the social conservative bloc – led by McLeroy – tries to impose its views in history, science and other areas of the curriculum.

"Our kids don't go to red schools. They don't go to blue schools. They go to local schools," he said, also criticizing attempts by some board members to inject their religious beliefs into what children are taught.

McLeroy, a former board chairman, was unapologetic about the actions of the social conservatives over the last three years, when they have held seven of the 15 seats on the board. Frequently – but not always – they were able to gain a majority by picking up an eighth vote from one of the other three Republicans on the board or one of the five Democrats.

"While my opponent says these last few years have been distractions, I look at them as being incredible accomplishments that will help our children," he told the Richardson audience.

Among the board's duties are reviewing and adopting textbooks, setting curriculum standards and graduation requirements, determining passing standards for achievement tests and overseeing the $22 billion Permanent School Fund.

Decisions about the curriculum are often politically charged. And the rest of the nation pays attention to what the board does because Texas, by its sheer size, influences what publishers put in textbooks nationwide.

In recent years, the social conservative bloc has shaped new curriculum standards for English and science – including much debated language that requires students to examine "all sides" of scientific evidence for evolution in biology classes.

The group also pushed through its vision for an elective Bible studies course in high school and united to reject an elementary school math textbook, used in Dallas and Highland Park, that its members considered too soft.

Last month, McLeroy won tentative approval of new U.S. history standards that would require high school students to learn about key conservative individuals and groups from the 1980s and 1990s – but not about liberal or minority rights groups.

McLeroy said he offered the proposal because history standards developed by writing teams of teachers and academics were already "rife with leftist political periods and events – the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society."

Ratliff used the board meeting in January to illustrate his argument that the social conservative bloc has increasingly ignored the advice of mainstream education groups and the general public.

With about 150 people signed up to testify at a public hearing on new social studies standards, Ratliff said, the board cut off testimony, leaving dozens unable to express their views.

"They sent a strong message to the public: 'We don't want to hear from you,' " he said. "They just turned off the microphones and left."

McLeroy, 63, a dentist, has not been bothered by lack of support from leading groups representing teachers, school administrators and local school boards, which he dismissed as the "educational political lobby." The groups are more interested in preserving their influence over public schools than in helping schoolchildren, and Ratliff would push their agenda, he argued.

Ratliff, 42, said tapping Texas educators to advise the board is far better than what the current board has done in drafting curriculum standards for social studies – using out-of-state "experts" who included an evangelical minister from Massachusetts.

"I just don't believe it's a good idea to have people from all corners of the country come to help us write our curriculum," said Ratliff, whose father, Bill Ratliff, was lieutenant governor and an influential state senator on education matters.

Neither candidate has raised a large sum of money to run for the office. With one week to go before the primary election, Ratliff has raised about $39,000, to McLeroy's $16,000.

Both have campaigned frequently in the 29-county District 9, which runs from College Station up through northeast Texas to the Red River and includes much of Collin County and areas just east of Dallas County.

Social conservatives are fighting in the primary to keep McLeroy's seat and two Central Texas seats they now hold. In a fourth race, in the Texas Panhandle, Republican incumbent Bob Craig of Lubbock is being challenged by an opponent from Odessa with social conservative leanings. Craig has often been at odds with the social conservative bloc.

McLeroy said he views the election as a "referendum on what we've done the last few years" – including his two years at the helm of the board, which ended when Senate Democrats managed to block his reappointment by Gov. Rick Perry.

Ratliff, on the other hand, said voters have a chance "to return the state board to a place where world-class education can be crafted with the cooperation of the Legislature, parents, educators and students."

A look at where Don McLeroy and Thomas Ratliff stand on the top issues in their District 9 race:

ALIGNMENT WITH SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES

Ratliff: Says McLeroy and his allies have politicized education and turned a deaf ear to educators and parents on key issues.

EDUCATION GROUPS' ROLE

Ratliff: Says the board needs to seek advice from educators and local school boards before it makes decisions.

ENGLISH, SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES

McLeroy: Says the board has often done a better job in writing curriculum standards than teams of teachers and academics – including the requirement of a more critical view of evolution in science classes.

Ratliff: Says the board has injected its political and religious views into curriculum areas and often ignored what the real experts – teachers – believe should be taught in core subjects. He also objected to board-appointed curriculum "experts" from other states.

Terrence Stutz