11.19.23
“Science Textbooks – Unity Among 10 Republican Tex. SBOE Members”
By Donna Garner
Last Friday, 11.17.23, the Texas State Board of Education members voted on which science textbooks will be placed on the Science Textbook Adoption List.
The 10 Republican members working closely together were able to remove the undesirable textbooks completely from the list.
The 10 unified members were also able to pressure publishers to make much-needed changes in designated textbooks before they were placed on the final list.
At the bottom of this article, please see the science textbooks which were approved and the ones that were rejected for good reasons.
===========================================
11.17.23 – Dallas Morning News
“Clashes on Climate Change, Evolution Derail Some Textbooks from Adoption for Texas Schools”
By Valeria Olivares
Excerpts from this article:
The State Board of Education adopted new science textbooks for public schools on Friday after rejecting several that discuss climate change and evolution.
Conservative groups and policymakers criticized some of the proposed books saying they put too much emphasis on humans causing climate change and stressing evolutionism but not other viewpoints, such as creationism.
Some also balked at how fossil fuels were portrayed…
The board considered science textbooks from 22 publishers for adoption in Texas. Eight of those failed to get their books on the board’s final approved adoption list…
Patricia Hardy, R-Fort Worth, wanted to make sure the materials wouldn’t scare children into thinking that the “world is ending tomorrow” because of climate change.
She also felt that some of the texts depicted renewable energy as the “perfect solution” but didn’t discuss the environmental impact of such energy sources.
The SBOE chooses which textbooks will be on the state’s adoption list. School districts are then able to decide which materials to use with their students.
Board members voted to preliminarily reject some textbooks on Tuesday.
“Students should be presented with both,” board member Evelyn Brooks, R-Frisco, said then. [Not just the leftist, environmentalist side]
Publishers were given the opportunity to make changes that addressed such concerns ahead of the final vote.
Several books were approved Friday on the condition that publishers make changes suggested by the board.
In 2022, Texas ranked as the top crude oil-producing state in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. More than 42% of the country’s production came from the state.
Texas public schools benefit from oil and natural gas royalties funneled through the Permanent School Fund.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, who oversees the state’s regulation of the oil and natural gas industry, had been critical of the proposed books and celebrated the defeat of “radical environmentalist propaganda” that he said was included in some materials.
“America’s future generations don’t need a leftist agenda brainwashing them in the classroom to hate oil and natural gas,” he said in a statement.
COMMENTS FROM DONNA GARNER:
At the 11.14.23 SBOE meeting, the Board removed the following textbooks from the adoption list because of controversial wording involving such issues as only emphasizing evolution without mentioning creationism and intelligent design, placing the blame for climate change on fossil fuels, vilifying the entire oil-and-gas industry, emphasizing the virtues of renewables without giving the many drawbacks, using the term “pregnant person,” and/or referring to LGBTQ.
11.14.23 SBOE MEETING – THESE TEXTBOOKS WERE REMOVED:
Accelerated Learning
Discovery Education
EduSmart
Green Ninja
McGraw-Hill
Goodheart Wilcox Child Development
Goodheart Human Anatomy and Physiology
=====================
SBOE members Kevin Ellis, Audrey Young, Evelyn Brooks, Pat Hardy, Tom Maynard, L. J. Francis, Will Hickman, Aaron Kenzie, Pam Little, and Julie Pickren (all 10 Republicans) worked closely together and in unity to help the publishers understand the specific criticisms of the submitted textbooks.
To their credit, some of the publishers listened to the SBOE members and took positive action to align their textbooks with Texas’ Science TEKS (curriculum standards).
On 11.17.23, the SBOE restored the following textbooks to the adoption list because the publishers made the appropriate revisions to the controversial wording:
Accelerated Learning Biology (added creationism and intelligent design)
McGraw-Hill Biology (removed evolutionary lineage of human beings [ape] from high school biology book)
========================
At the same 11.17.23 SBOE meeting, the following textbooks were NOT restored to the adoption list because the textbook publishers refused to make the changes required by the SBOE.
Other states need to be very wary about adopting the following science textbooks from these publishing companies:
Discovery Education
EduSmart
Green Ninja
=================================================
MORE INFORMATION
11.17.23 – “BREAKING: Radical Evolution-Only Theories in Textbooks Rejected by SBOE” -- By Texas Values Staff -- https://txvalues.org/breaking-radical-evolution-only-theories-in-textbooks-rejected-by-state-board-of-education