The State Board of Education has failed once again to provide Texas public schools with the resources they need to create courses in Mexican American studies. We just sent out the following press release:Today a proposed textbook for Mexican American studies in Texas public schools failed to win preliminary approval from the State Board of Education. The board on Friday will take a formal vote on the textbook. The following statement can be attributed to Dan Quinn, TFN’s communications director:
“Board members failed to take this issue seriously when a Mexican American studies course was first proposed. They rejected pleas to establish specific curriculum standards that would attract reputable publishers, opening the door to the submission of a deeply offensive textbook based on racial stereotypes and other misinformation last year. Then after rightly rejecting that textbook, the board asked again for textbooks to consider but insisted on an unusually short deadline that was almost impossible for most publishers to meet. Now the board is rejecting the only textbook that a publisher was able to rush to completion in time.
The continued failure to provide school districts with the resources they need for creating good, effective courses in Mexican American studies is a problem of the board’s own creation. If they are serious about wanting to help schools offer these elective classes, then it’s time to listen to scholars and advocates who have been telling them how to do it the right way.”
