Today Texas lawmakers picked up a bigger megaphone to get the attention of a bitterly divided, out-of-control State Board of Education. At a Capitol press conference, members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) announced that they are scheduling a public hearing for April 28 to examine how and why the state board has run off the […]
Textbook Censorship
The Texas State Board of Education decides what every student in Texas public schools will learn from kindergarten through high school. The board does so by adopting curriculum standards and textbooks for public schools in the state.
For decades, far-right politicians on the State Board of Education and their extremist allies have taken advantage of this flawed system to dismiss the advice of experts and scholars. They have instead worked to inject their personal views into textbooks on everything from evolution and climate change to the history of slavery, civil rights, and separation of church and state.
Resources
- Report Reveals Serious Flaws in Social Studies Textbooks
- The State Board of Education: Dragging Texas Schools into the Culture Wars (2008 report)
- Evolution, Creationism & Public Schools: Surveying Texas Scientists (2008 report)
- Culture Wars and the Classroom (2010 report)
- Senate Bill 6: Changes in the Textbook Adoption Process (2011 report)
- Texas Science Curriculum Standards: Challenges (2012 report)
- Science Textbook Review (2013 report)
- Social Studies Textbook Review (2014 report)
The Federal Reserve and the Bible
Perhaps others were just as puzzled as we were when the religious-right bloc on the Texas State Board of Education went after the Federal Reserve System earlier this month. At the board’s March 11 meeting, Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, proposed the following standard for revised curriculum standards for high school economics: “(A)nalyze the decline in value […]
Pointing Fingers and Shading the Truth
Texas State Board of Education members are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves for the debacle over revising social studies curriculum standards. In new interviews with the Southern Baptist TEXAN, board Chair Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas, and fellow member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, are complaining that reporting about the board’s actions have been inaccurate. And they point […]
Change the SBOE: ‘Just Educate’ Campaign
Don’t forget to sign on to Just Educate, a campaign to reform the Texas State Board of Education. (You can also sign on to the campaign’s Facebook page here.) And tell your friends and family who care about ensuring that Texas students get a quality public education. Why is this campaign so important? Last year the […]
Another Stunning McLeroy Interview
Check out this fascinating Q-and-A with Texas State Board of Education member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, from The Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. Money quote: “Look, down here there are these groups from the far left. Whatever we do, they want to make it look like we are dumb morons. They’re very effective, dadgummit. Jefferson’s […]
