SBOE Hands Texas Schoolchildren a Victory

In a landmark vote, the State Board of Education voted November 9, 2001, to reject one of the three proposed environmental science textbooks. The textbook rejected because they contained factual errors and errors of omission which the publishers refused to address.

“The State Board of Education voted today to keep educational materials free of factual error and anti-American bias and to uphold the Texas Education Code,” said Peggy Venable, director of Texas CSE. “The rejected book did not adhere to the law.”

Section 28.002 (h) of the TEC requires teaching of the free enterprise system, encourages the importance of patriotism and appreciation for the basic democratic values of our state and national heritage.

“Today’s vote was a victory for Texas schoolchildren, and for patriotism, democracy, and free enterprise,” added Venable. “The SBOE sent a strong message to textbook publishers that Texas students deserve quality materials free from activist agendas.”

Texas CSE members lead the charge to encourage citizen participation in the review process. Over 300 CSE members and other citizens reviewed books, testified and called SBOE members. They are also joining other citizens to participate in the local school district textbook selection process. Local school districts make the final purchasing decisions.

SBOE members voted to adopt almost 50 books which included middle school science textbooks and high school chemistry and physics textbooks. The State of Texas will spend $571 million this biennium on textbooks.

“Many members of the education establishment advocated adopting all of these textbooks,” said Venable. “Adopting all these textbooks would have been like passing every student in a class regardless of their performance.”