Gov. Rick Perry appointed GOP primary winner Debra Lehrmann, a Tarrant County judge, to fill the remaining five months of Judge Harriet O'Neill's unexpired term. Lehrmann, if she wins the general election as the Republican nominee (against Democratic nominee Jim Sharp and Libertarian William Bryan Strange III), will begin a full term in January 2011.

The following is the press release from the Lehrmann campaign:

Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus sent out a letter today, officially beginning the process by which the next biennial budget (2012-13) will be set.

The trio had already asked departments to cut 5 percent from their current year's budgets, but the next cycle will require a 10 percent cut in each department, Perry said in a press release.

Budget requests are due between Aug. 2-30, along with a supplemental schedule detailing how the baselines of each budget could be reduced by a total of 10 percent (in 5 percent increments).

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) hosted five public hearings with testimonies often reaching into the late evening hours. The curriculum adoption process itself has gone on for just under two years, starting with the TEA’s appointment of writing committees, with many teachers involved in the process.

But that wasn’t enough time, or so said opponents of the SBOE’s conservative majority last Friday when the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards were finally adopted.

The Republican Party of Texas announced three notable guests scheduled to appear during the state GOP convention June 11-12.

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign, will speak alongside colleague U.S. Rep. Michel Bachmann of Minnesota at the RPT's fund-raising gala at the convention on June 11.

On Saturday, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi is scheduled to deliver a keynote address to the delegation.

So far, three of a series of transportation-related committee meetings at the Texas Capitol have been rather quiet. And just when we were ready to say it was like watching paint dry, apparently paint became a subject of much concern over at TxDOT.

The AP reports:

Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Chris Lippincott says the agency has suspended redrawing the stripes on existing roads due to the shortage of a resin-like material called methyl methacrylate. Manufacturers have notified Texas about production and demand delays. [...]

LSR received several press releases both congratulating and condeming the State Board of Education (SBOE) following the close of business and approval of statewide curiculum standards Friday. Below are some of the notable comments. We'll add to this list as we receive them.

Bill White, Democratic nominee for Governor: "The State Board of Education, led by a Perry appointee, created a political circus and undermined the independence of public education from politics. When people see Texas as a place with political agendas in schools, it hurts our ability to attract entrepreneurs and new businesses. Instead of politicians spending their time editing textbooks, we need leaders who will push electronic textbooks forward to save money and create a better variety of courses for Texas students. [...]

It appears Speaker Joe Straus has appointed conservative Rep. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) to the Sunset Advisory Commission to fill an unexpired term left by Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock).

Below is the press release from the Speaker's office:

Texas State Board of Education members made some rather passionate, concluding remarks before approving High School curriculum standards and, thus, finalizing the bulk of the much-publicized curriculum-setting process.

The High School standards passed 9-5, along party lines with the exception of Bob Craig, a Republican. A motion to postpone until July failed by a similar margin.

Some highlights are as follows.

Texas State Board of Education members, with a whole extra day to discuss high school Social Studies standards, began to haggle over finer details such as ... well, the phrase "such as."

The SBOE adjourned just after midnight and reconvened this morning to put the final touches on, and tack on a few last-minute amendments to, the K-12 Social Studies TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) statewide curriculum standards. SBOE member Mary Helen Berlanga expressed concern that the TEKS was becoming too long a document, and that substantive changes were being added to the TEKS at the last hours of the nearly-two-year curriculum setting process. "I don't even think a teacher would accept that from a student," Berlanga said, relating to a correction to an assignment turned in late.

Below are some haggles over details that -- while they may seem trivial to the outside observer -- could possibly add up to big changes (depending on who you talk to, anyway).

There were two major press events held at the William B. Travis Building Wednesday as the State Board of Education heard final testimony on proposed changes to the state's Social Studies curriculum standards.

The standards, which affect what a large portion of publishers include in classroom textbooks across the nation, has made the Texas SBOE proceedings a national spectactle, according to Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) at a presser held by the Texas Freedom Network, a pro-secularism organization. [...]

At  the other hearing, the Liberty Institute (formerly the Free Market Foundation) hosted several speakers of a more conservative persuasion, including Reps. Dan Flynn (R-Van) and Wayne Christian (R-Center). They spoke in favor of many of the SBOE's decisions and urged passage this week of the Social Studies standards.