Pat Hardy wants to be wrong.
Her time on the State Board of Education ended Jan. 1 after losing a primary against a well-funded political newcomer. Now, the Fort Worth Republican is reflecting on her 22 years of decisions that impacted generations of students across Texas.
The retired educator keeps coming back to one of her last votes: her “no” on a new reading curriculum that includes biblical stories.
The optional reading lessons, approved in an 8-7 vote, are part of what the state describes as “high-quality instructional materials” called Bluebonnet Learning. The Texas Legislature called for the creation of such a package in 2023 as a way to boost lagging student performance across the state.
The law was an important step forward, Hardy said.
“We’re finally realizing the most important thing that kids can do is read well. You can’t teach much of anything if they can’t read. You can’t even teach them math if they can’t read,” she said.
The new reading lessons, Hardy feared, would not help students. She talked to elementary teachers. And reading specialists. And college professors who research literacy.
Her conclusion? Bluebonnet Learning would not be an effective tool in teaching students how to read.
Now, the entire state of education in Texas likely depends on how Bluebonnet pans out, she said.
“Even though I voted against it, I would love to see it be successful. I’m not holding my breath,” she said. “I’ve been around so long that I’ve seen things come and go.”
‘Active in the political scene’
Hardy has always been, as she described herself, a political animal.
As a teenager, she volunteered for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater’s campaign against Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson.
As an adult, she leveraged her teacher experiences to influence education policy on committees advising state legislators.
But she did not run for office.
“If you want to be active in the political scene, then you do what you do best,” Hardy said. “I’m good at education. That’s when people would say, ‘Why don’t you try and do something?’ I was happy with teaching.”
Until, one day, a friend called Hardy.
Pat, the teachers really need someone to run.
Hardy thought about it.
She was a full-time educator.
She wasn’t sure if she could meet her 40-hour job’s duties and add the task of representing hundreds of thousands of North Texans on the State Board of Education — and that’s before accounting for frequent trips to Austin.
The friend reassured Hardy and told her that she would take care of her bosses.
Hardy received the OK to run for elected office from her school district. She ran in 2002 and won. Her first term on the State Board of Education started Jan. 1, 2003.
‘Far-reaching impact’
State Board of Education member Pam Little wrapped her right arm around Hardy during the Fort Worth Republican’s last meeting in November. Little looked down at the podium and read a resolution honoring the departing board member.
Hardy used her practical experience and connections with working educators as a social studies teacher to inform her decisions crafting and shaping state education policy, Little said. Of course, she said, Hardy played a crucial role every time the board updated the social studies curriculum.
“Who in Sam Hill could have predicted the far-reaching impact Pat Hardy would have on public education at the local, state and national levels when she began her teaching career after graduating from Howard Payne University?” Little said as Hardy laughed.
The impact of her service isn’t lost on Hardy.
She saw other board members follow her lead and draw on educators more.
“There was this lack of thinking that they could make a contribution — and they can make a great contribution,” Hardy said. “I was surprised that there was not more input from the field, but we’ve done a lot more and we’re a lot better for that now.”
Hardy also is proud of her work to ensure state curriculum standards required students to learn how to write in cursive. In 2017, the State Board of Education updated standards for English language arts to bring back cursive, a skill that students must learn by the third grade.
“I did have to stay on that for a number of years until we got it in, but we got it back in there,” Hardy said.
The State Board of Education also recognized Hardy for her work to shore up the Texas Permanent School Fund, which finances public education. She sat on the committee overseeing the fund for nearly the entirety of her time on the State Board of Education.
When Hardy first joined the board, questions swirling around the fund included whether any wrongdoing was occurring, she said. The goal was to keep it, as she described it, “squeaky clean.”
The Permanent School Fund Committee rolled out new policies and procedures to protect the dollars, maintain its integrity and grow.
“I wanted to see it continue to work above board — and it did,” Hardy said.
The fund grew from $16.8 billion when Hardy first joined the committee to now $63.7 billion, Little said.
What’s next?
Hardy’s successor on the State Board of Education, Parker County Republican Brandon Hall, started his four-year term Jan. 1. His first board meeting is Jan. 28.
“To the people of Tarrant, Parker, Somervell, Hood, and parts of Dallas and Johnson counties: I am here to serve you,” Hall said in a Facebook post. “I will never stop fighting for parental rights and conservative reform to ensure every student in Texas gets the world-class education they deserve.”
Hardy does not have much advice for Hall after a primary fight that saw Texans for Educational Freedom, a political action committee, pour nearly $500,000 into her opponent’s campaign. Hall lied about Hardy and her credentials during the primary, Hardy alleged to the Report on March 6 as votes were counted.
Hall needs to make himself accessible to constituents, Hardy said.
“The people in my district are used to me picking up the phone,” she said. “My advice to him would be make sure he gets his phone number out there so people can call and he can hear what they have to say — good, bad or indifferent.”
Hardy saw a shift in how the State Board of Education worked over the past two decades. She worked well with Republicans and Democrats and became friends with many of her fellow board members. In fact, they would go out to eat after board meetings, even after a contentious debate.
“I liked that camaraderie,” Hardy said. “I think the board’s going to miss that ability to work both sides.”
Hardy will miss the people she worked alongside.
One thing she won’t miss? “The drive,” Hardy said, with a laugh.
What Hardy is looking forward to most is not having to rush all the time, she said. The State Board of Education’s work in recent years has been draining as the workload of members, who are not paid, increased.
She has no regrets about her service nor about her only election loss.
“Really and truly, the best thing is that I will have more time for myself,” Hardy said.
She knows she’s right about that.
Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
