Barbara Cargill (File)

AUSTIN (February 20, 2013)--The Texas Senate Wednesday confirmed Gov. Rick Perry's choice for chair of the State Board of Education, voting unanimously to allow Barbara Cargill, a Republican and former biology teacher from The Woodlands, to continue in the position.

Cargill, who has led the board since Perry initially nominated her in 2011, is the first to win confirmation for a full term since 2005.

In recent years, the board has stirred national criticism for pressing science textbook publishers to include religious concepts such as creationism.

Cargill has voted in favor of teaching what she called "weaknesses" in the theory of evolution, but in a Senate committee hearing last week, she pledged to set aside her personal beliefs when determining the curriculum taught in classrooms.