Don McLeroy

John Donald "Don" McLeroy (born June 3, 1946) is a dentist in Bryan, Texas, who is the new Republican chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. Elected to the board in 1998 from District 9, McLeroy was appointed to the chairmanship on July 17, 2007, by Governor Rick Perry. The term as chairman expires on February 1, 2009. McLeroy's current term on the board extends until January 2010. The state board establishes policy and provides leadership for the Texas public school system.

A creationist, McLeroy is known for his skepticism about the theory of evolution and has tried to convince textbook publishers to offer dissenting views on the origin of life and to demonstrate the weaknesses of the theory of evolution. The board can refuse to place offending materials on the state approved list. If school districts want textbooks not on the list, the districts must purchase such materials entirely from their own funds.

In his initial election in 1998, McLeroy defeated the Democrat Mary Delk, 145,556 (55 percent) to 119,149 (45 percent). McLeroy's strongest counties were his own Brazos as well as Mongomery and Smith counties. In 2002, McLeroy won his second term by defeating the Democrat Dean W. Woodard, 193,454 (63.4 percent) to 111,909 (36.6 percnet). In 2006, he defeated Democrat Maggie Charleton, a retired teacher from College Station, 192,218 (59.6 percent) to 130,375 (40.4 percent), who was the choice of the teacher associations.

McLeroy is a past vice chairman of the board. He has also served as a trustee of the nonpartisan Bryan Independent School District. He is a board member of Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach. McLeroy volunteers with the Boy Scouts of America and Gideons International. He is a Sunday school teacher at Grace Bible Church in College Station.

He received a bachelor of science degree from Texas A&M University in College Station and his D.D.S. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. McLeroy formerly served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army.

McLeroy is married to the former Nancy Fleming (born ca. 1948). They have two sons, Andrew Fleming McLeroy (born ca. 1982) and Luke Fleming McLeroy (born ca. 1979).

According to Kathy Miller, president of the liberal Texas Freedom Network:

Since his election, McLeroy has dragged the Texas State Board of Education into a series of, in her words, "divisive and unnecessary culture-war battles":
 * He voted in 2001 to reject the only advanced placement environmental science textbook proposed for Texas high schools even though panels of experts – including one panel from Texas A&M – found the textbook free of errors. Baylor University in Waco used the same textbook.


 * In 2003 McLeroy led efforts by proponents of creationism and intelligent design to de-emphasize discussion of evolution in proposed new biology textbooks. He was one of only four board members who voted against biology textbooks that year that included a full account of evolution.


 * In 2004, McLeroy voted to approve health textbooks that stress "abstinence-only" in regard to instruction about pregnancy and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.