After more than a year of debate over 30 hours of public testimony from four open public meetings and 14000 emails the State Board of Education (SBOE) approved and successfully passed new Social Studies Curriculum Standards at their May 21 2010 meeting. While no curriculum can ever be perfect the final work product is a strong step in the right direction and will give students a fuller understanding of the roots of American history.
The curriculum standards which are now part of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) will be reflected in textbooks K-12 classroom instruction and achievement tests used in Texas schools over the next decade. The new standards according to Dr. Robert Koons a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas-Austin have strengthened the curriculum standards in ways that any scholar should recognize."
SBOE was able to pass the new curriculum standards despite the efforts by certain groups to undermine the curriculum review process. Opposition criticized everything from the revisions to the TEKS to the process and functions of the Board itself.
SBOEs approach to revising the standards is directed by the Texas Legislature the Texas Constitution and the Texas Education Code. Each of the 15 members of the SBOE is directly elected by the citizens of Texas from their respective districts.
The SBOE does not make decisions on its own. The process involves several expert reviewers and working groups that consist of educators parents business and industry leaders and employers who issue recommendations for changes to the curriculum standards.
In addition to the collaborative effort to make curriculum recommendations SBOE meetings and discussions are transparent and public participation is encouraged. Legislation passed in the 2009 Legislative Session requires all meetings held by SBOE to be streamed live over the internet. Previously audio recordings of SBOE meetings were available online. All SBOE meetings are archived on the Boards website.
Opposition to SBOE falsely accused the Board of attempting to draft a revised curriculum based on a political agenda.
An example of the absurd accusations is that the SBOE was trying to strike Founding Father Thomas Jefferson from the social studies curriculum. In fact the new 
standards mention only George Washington more frequently then Thomas Jefferson who is taught in fifth grade American history in eighth grade American history and in U.S. Government.
These are the same grades where Jefferson and his legacy have always been taught and the Board has not changed this emphasis.
Other accusations asserted that the new standards discount the historical contributions of minorities to American history and culture. This assertion is again false.
The Social Studies TEKS include more minority representation than ever before.
In fact Dr. David Upham assistant professor at the University of Texas-Dallas argued in The Wall Street Journal against a letter signed by several historians at the Universities of Texas at Austin and El Paso that claimed the board ignored the struggles of women and minorities for civil rights."
Dr. Upham stated that despite the allegations however no one has pointed to a particular significant error of fact.
My own review of the proposed curriculum did not reveal anything plainly false and the oft-repeated accusations of outrageous omission are demonstrably false.
Regarding inclusion of aspects of Americas religious heritage a controversial topic for some critics of the Board Professor Jess de la Teja State Historian SBOE expert reviewer and professor and chairman of History at Texas State University-San Marcos noted:
By and large the inclusion of religion is well within the bounds of what is taught in most college classrooms and there has been no effort to force curriculum to be written that overly emphasizes the Christian roots of this nation or of Western civilization."
The attacks on the State Board of Education ignored the transparent approach that the Board took toward developing curriculum standards for Texas school children misstated many of the changes that the Board proposed and sought to undermine the Boards diligent work to execute its constitutional and statutory obligations. The Board should be applauded for their conscientious efforts. Texas school children will be the long-term beneficiaries. Representative Ken Paxton was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002 and is currently serving his 4th term
representing district 70. Paxton received his BA and MBA from Baylor University and also earned a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. He and his wife Angela live in McKinney TX and have 4 children.
