This is one in a series of profiles of candidates for the Alabama State Board of Education. Please read my previous profile here.
Ann Eubank began attending the Alabama statehouse in 2010 to protest Common Core, a set of standards intended to bring consistency to educational standards in states across the country.
“So I went to Congress and started fighting there,” she said. “And I've been there ever since.”
Eubank said he hasn't been able to make the changes he hoped for outside the system, so he will try to change it from within.
Eubank, a Republican, is running to represent District 3 on the State Board of Education. The district runs through the center of the state and includes parts of Montgomery and Jefferson counties. Republican incumbent Stephanie Bell has decided not to run again after nearly 30 years on the board.
Eubank said he decided to run to stop the “Marxization of education,” citing the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and racism of right-wing author James Lindsay, who appears in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Extremist File. Stated.
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Eubank said Common Core was part of America's transformation, which lowered standards.
“To close the gap, everyone needed to become commonplace, and no one could be better educated than anyone else,” she said.
Eubank said he is interested in implementing a curriculum similar to the Hillsdale Education Model, which is a classic Christian education. Eubank said the model is based on fact, not emotion.
Hillsdale charter schools have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in red states like Tennessee. Hillsdale College is a conservative private school located in Michigan.
“Awakening politics, sexual revolution politics, that's not what public schools are about,” she said. “Public schools teach kids history, math, and reading so they can become productive citizens. That's what I want.”
The Alabama House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a voucher-like program that would expand up to $7,000 in tax credits that households can use for non-public education expenses such as private school tuition and tutoring.
Eubank said he supports education savings accounts but is working on a practical response to this year's bill from the governor.
“I believe it is the God-given right of parents to educate their children as they see fit,” she says.
Eubank's top three priorities for the district are adding more teachers and fewer students in classrooms. There will be fewer school administrators, she said, and teachers will have less focus in the classroom. There will also be less paperwork for teachers from the federal government.