Basic Ballard

Joy has found it so offensive that she contacted a law professor at Notre Dame, apparently in the hopes of reclaiming the tax dollars her family has spent on public education.

"I want my money back," she says. "I really don't care what they do in public education anymore. I just want my money back because I don't want to fund it."

Though she has abandoned public education, Joy is clearly the kind of frightened, angry parent that Ballard appeals to most effectively. Just how many others are out there is anyone's guess. Even after two busloads of them showed up at the March 4 meeting, some board members weren't impressed.

"I see a lot of people here," said Rosie Sorrells of Dallas, glancing around at the protesters and their anti-TEKS placards. "But I want to know how many of our parents are truly represented."

That's a question that even Donna Ballard can't answer for certain. Not that she needs an answer in order to continue fighting the new curriculum. Despite a July deadline for passage set by the TEA, Ballard vows to continue rejecting the proposals until she is presented with one she can support. Other board members, who have grown weary of attempts to compromise, say that the ultra-conservatives on the board simply don't have enough votes to continue stalling the TEKS.

And everyone, of course, has heard the rumors that legislators angry over the partisan bickering might introduce a bill that would once again make the State Board of Education an appointed, rather than an elected, panel.

That, more than just about any curriculum that might be adopted, would have a much more devastating effect on Donna Ballard's vision of public education. But it certainly won't cause her to reconsider the world she lives in.

"The story I like to tell is from Little House on the Prairie," she says. "When Walnut Grove grew so big that they had to have a school, they said, 'Hey, let's give ten people the responsibility to oversee the school,' and that was the first school board.

"I know that this is a pretend story," she continues, "but the point is I am one of those that the people of Walnut Grove decided to have represent them, and I take that very seriously.