As we have reported, the State Board of Education voted last month to adopt all of the high school biology textbooks up for adoption in Texas. The adoption of one of those textbooks, from Pearson Education, was made contingent on a final examination of factual errors made by Ide Trotter, a creationist who had served […]
Textbook Censorship
2014 Elections: Three Contested Primaries in Texas SBOE Elections
The deadline for filing to run for state office in Texas in 2014 was last Friday. Six of seven incumbents are seeking re-election to the Texas State Board of Education, and two of them face opposition in their party primaries. A third contested primary is for a seat in which the incumbent is not seeking […]
Are Anti-Muslim Activists Targeting Next Year’s Social Studies Textbook Adoption in Texas?
With the science textbook adoption mostly behind them, State Board of Education (SBOE) members are turning their attention to next year’s adoption of new social studies textbooks for Texas public schools. And we’re already seeing right-wing activists preparing to turn that adoption into another “culture war” battleground. Circulating among tea party and other right-wing activists in […]
Cynthia Dunbar (Remember Her?) Says Teaching Texas Kids about Climate Change Is 'Socialized Education'
Remember Cynthia Dunbar? She’s the creationist former member of the Texas State Board of Education who wrote a book in which she called public education “tyrannical,” unconstitutional and a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.” Dunbar left the board at the end of 2010 and last we heard was teaching law at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. On […]
How Science Won in the Texas Textbook Battle
Last week’s State Board of Education (SBOE) vote to adopt new science textbooks for Texas public schools represented an important victory for science education. But what you have been reading in the news media doesn’t tell the whole story about what was happening behind the scenes in this battle — including the effort to derail […]
