Youth pastor Brandon Hall has deep roots in the Parker County area and said he’s looking to make a lasting impact on public education in Texas by winning a seat on the State Board of Education.
Hall told The Dallas Express his family goes way back in the area, several generations dating back to the 1800s. While he himself was born in New Mexico, he moved to Parker County when he was 4 years old. After leading ministry outreach and mentorship programs for at-risk youth in Chicago and working on various Republican campaigns at the state and national level, he’s now taking a shot at unseating SBOE member Patricia Hardy (R-Fort Worth) in the Republican primary in March.
“We have a lot of teachers on the State Board of Education, people with educator-type backgrounds, and I think that’s great. I think that brings a good perspective to the board. But I also think we really need people with an outside perspective that are very in touch with parents and what families are dealing with, things that they hear about the curriculum, the educational struggles that their children have,” Hall said.
“So I think that I am really plugged in with that from having worked with youth for so long and still working with families in my church. And I think I’m ready to hit the ground running and just be a strong voice and advocate for parents and families.”
He identified a few of the key issues affecting public education in Texas that he said he would like to tackle if he ends up earning a seat on the SBOE.
“I think the first thing is obviously just improving education in general … and providing a world-class education to each student. I think that we have gotten too tied up with, you know, social-emotional learning, critical race theory, especially in the past,” Hall said, alleging that such things are being “repackaged” under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“There has been too much social indoctrination in the classroom, even in Texas. And I think we have to tackle that and return back to the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic and give students a practical education that they can use going forward into the workforce to be productive members of society,” he added.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, less than half of the state’s public school students scored at grade level or above on their STAAR exams last school year, raising concerns among educators and parents. At Dallas ISD, no grade had at least 50% of its students score at grade level in math. Some grades logged especially alarming scores. For instance, only 14% of seventh graders scored at grade level in math, well below the statewide average of 35% — itself a troubling figure.
Hall also addressed the anger on the part of some parents over potentially inappropriate library books and classroom materials made available to students at public schools.
“We’ve seen works of literature in our libraries … that are just inappropriate in the classroom. And I know that steps are being taken to address those things, but I don’t think that it’s happened quickly enough, and I think the fact that those books ever popped up in libraries and classrooms in the first place is extremely concerning and speaks to some complacency that has been on the State Board of Education that I’m looking to fix,” he told DX.
Above all, Hall said he wants to represent Texas families and their concerns.
“I’m just trying to be an advocate for parents, and the things that parents are telling me that they’re concerned about is making sure that we weed those things out of the education system so that our children really can focus on the fundamentals and get a good education.”