It didn't take them long, the Texas Board of Education is asking AG Greg Abbott to revisit the 1996 legal decision that the Board cannot reject textbooks based on content, only on errant facts. For instance, textbooks cannot be rejected because the social conservatives on the Board don't like the idea of evolution, only if evolution is misspelled.
One Board member, Terri Leo, says "We suggest that the opinion misread the Texas Education Code and misinterpreted legislative intent; that State Board of Education establishment of general textbook content standards is lawful under current statute and serves a legitimate state interest."
Because a bunch of yahoos pandering to a political base know what should be in textbooks and not, say, the people writing them.
What Ms. Leo's letter doesn't say?
Her letter did not mention that the Legislature has repeatedly rejected bills over the past decade that would have done what she is now requesting – giving the board of education the right to screen content and reject books board members believe are not appropriate for students.
At least three such bills were filed in the 2005 legislative session. None came close to passage.
The author of the 1995 bill in question, former Sen. Bill Ratliff, said former AG Dan Morales' interpretation was correct. He went on to say that no one in their right mind would give authority over a toilet seat to Ms. Leo and the members of the board, let alone over what goes into the textbooks the state buys. Okay, I made that last part up.
This really comes down to reading the law, which is pretty clear apparently, and Ms. Leo and her ilk cannot even do that. If they can't read the laws, how can they possibly read the textbooks and decide what goes in them?
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