Laurie Cardoza-Moore Confirmed to Serve on Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission

by christiannewsjournal
A child at school

Laurie Cardoza-Moore has been confirmed to serve on Tennessee’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission following hearings in Nashville before the State House and Senate Education Committees last week.

As a long time voice of advocacy for educational standards, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton brought her into consideration for the important commission.

She noted in hearings before the Confirmation Committee, “My goal is to join the Commission with my full and tireless commitment to the vision of making Tennessee a ‘gold standard’ in education for our children and a model for the rest of the nation to follow.”

Noted 40th District House Representative Terri Lynn Weaver on the appointment of Cardoza-Moore: “Laurie exemplifies leadership in education and she will be an asset to the Textbook Commission. I am proud to have supported her appointment and am pleased that she has agreed to serve our state in this way.”

State Senator Janice Bowling of Tennessee’s 16th District also applauded the confirmation, noting, “Laurie’s talents, diligence, and life study in history, religion, and matters of education uniquely prepare her for this new area of public service.”

Laurie Cardoza-Moore is the Founder and President of Proclaiming Justice to The Nations, (PJTN) based in Franklin, Tenn. Her history of activism in education in Middle Tennessee has not been without controversy. Cardoza-Moore’s widely reported campaign for the removal of a culturally biased, antisemitic Pearson Publishers textbook in Williamson County made international headlines when she publicly exposed a quote that legitimized Palestinians blowing themselves up in a Jerusalem restaurant because they were waging war against Israeli government policies and army actions.

In 2010, she publicly uncovered two Hamas members on the Board of the Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, one of whom, Mosaad Rawash, was actively recruiting Muslims to kill Jews to free Palestine. This past action has brought strong opposition to her current appointment. Both the American Muslim Advisory Council and CAIR mounted major campaigns to block her appointment on the Commission.

In contrast, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, president of the nationwide Coalition of Jewish values, noted in a letter of support to the Commission: “Laurie Cardoza-Moore’s concern for children’s education goes back years and it is thanks to her efforts that a textbook which minimized and even justified antisemtic terrorism is not being used today to indoctrinate Tennessee children. We believe the children of Tennessee will all benefit from her work on the Commission.”

She noted in the hearing on Wednesday: “Many of you know the history of my involvement with education in Tennessee. As a home schooling mother of five, my original “wake-up call” to the state of America’s educational system came in 2012 in the discovery of anti-American, antisemitic content being used in the classrooms of Williamson County. This revelation of the seeds of indoctrination our children were being exposed to launched my quest to bring awareness and change through every avenue I could, from local grassroots rallies of concerned parents up to and including shining the lens of the national media on the problematic content found in our children’s textbooks and instructional materials nationwide. It was the beginning of my full awareness of the depth of the challenge at hand.”

The Textbook Commission in Tennessee oversees the official list of textbooks and instructional materials recommended for use in the state’s classrooms.

“Serving on this Commission is both an honor and an entrustment of great importance to me,” she noted.

“Those given this privilege, hold the potential of influence over the ideological, social, moral and civic minds of America’s next generation. Before us is a mandate. An opportunity to help ‘turn back the tide’ on the negative forces of disinformation that have invaded our children’s curricula for decades. We hold the commitment to ensuring that Tennessee textbooks and instructional materials are historically accurate, unbiased and reflect the values of the citizens of the state.”

She added in closing remarks at the confirmation hearing: “I am committed in my role on this Commission to serve the best interests of Tennessee parents in their desire of assuring the best quality education for their children—an education that will allow them to flourish in our changing world. I will vow to help insure, protect and enrich America’s next generation of leadership-our children. Our future leadership begins with the quality of the materials used in their classrooms.”

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—By CNJ Staff

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