Texas AG Keeps Limits on SBOE Textbook Authority
Texas Freedom Network Statement on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Opinion on SBOE Textbook Authority
Texas AG Keeps Limits on SBOE Textbook Authority
Texas Freedom Network Statement on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Opinion on SBOE Textbook Authority
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2006
Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, today released the following statements regarding Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s opinion on the State Board of Education’s authority over textbook content:
On the State Board’s lack of authority to set general textbook content standards:
“The Legislature and both Democratic and Republican attorneys general have now told the politicians on the State Board that they may not use public school textbooks to promote their own personal and political agendas. Nothing gives the board the authority to decide whether their personal opinions about U.S. and Texas history or the free enterprise system trump the facts. The Board is simply required to ensure, and rightly so, that our students learn about our history and the importance of the free enterprise system.”
Regarding the Board’s lack of authority over ancillary materials:
“Clearly, the SBOE goes beyond its authority by pressuring publishers to place required information that a faction on the board doesn’t like somewhere other than the students’ textbook. That was particularly true with high school health textbooks in 2004, which today don’t have a shred of required information about responsible teen pregnancy and STD prevention.”
