Some Good News: Texas Ed Board Revises Textbook Adoption Rules

This week we got a hopeful sign — at least a little one — that politics might not entirely govern the State Board of Education’s upcoming adoption of new social studies textbooks. Partly in reaction to how anti-evolution activists nearly hijacked the adoption of science textbooks last year, state board members adopted new rules that […]

Read More…

Because It Was None of Your Damn Business, Rep. Zedler

Self-described “conservatives” like Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, constantly insist that they hate when “big government” intrudes into the personal lives of individuals. But their own words and actions often reveal the hypocrisy behind such claims. The truth is that they support intrusive government when they can use it to impose their own beliefs […]

Read More…

Texas Textbook Activist Insists Civil Rights Successes Led to 'Burning and Looting,' Slavery Was a Minor Cause of Civil War

Another sign that the social studies textbook adoption in Texas this year is going to be messy: A political activist who helped write new curriculum standards for the state’s public schools in 2009 is insisting that new textbooks under consideration this year should promote his revisionist views on issues such as slavery and the Civil […]

Read More…

GOP Candidates in Texas Lieutenant Governor Race Cynically Repeat Calls to Teach Creationism in Public Schools

Each of the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Texas lieutenant governor raced as far to the extreme right as they could during their debate Monday night. Each one, for example, expressed support for banning abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Each one insisted that government should intrude into the end-of-life decisions families […]

Read More…

'Forcing Evolution into Texas Schools'?

Anti-science zealots can be pretty (unintentionally) comical. The Austin American-Statesman published an article today (behind a paywall) about  Responsive Education Solutions charter schools teaching junk science that attacks evolution and promotes creationism as a valid scientific alternative. The article prompted one right-wing activist to claim in an online screed this morning: “Libs bullying to force evolution into Texas […]

Read More…