State Board of Education members kept up their bitter yearlong ideological tussling until the very end Friday when they finally approved new social studies curriculum standards.
Despite two consecutive 15-hour days of discussion and changes board members still had plenty of steam Friday to argue over issues great and small throughout the standards for history government and economics that serve as the basis for textbooks and lessons in Texas public schools.
They tackled Thomas Jefferson religious freedom communism and more before passing the high school standards on a 9-5 party-line vote with Republicans in the majority. One Republican Geraldine Miller of Dallas had left the meeting before the vote.
The two members representing the Austin area Ken Mercer and Cynthia Dunbar voted with the majority.
The less contentious elementary and middle school standards were approved separately with the same vote tally; the high school economics standards won unanimous approval.
The board had considered more than 400 amendments since board-appointed writing groups made up largely of teachers delivered their final recommendations on new standards in January. The writing groups had spent months revising the previous standards from 1997.
Classroom materials and tests based on the new standards are slated to go into use in the 2012-13 school year but much is in flux that could affect that process.
Texas is wrestling with how to pay for new textbooks amid a looming state budget shortfall. On Friday the board delayed the purchase of new science textbooks to save the state some money in the next two-year budget.
And at the same time schools have been given new flexibility to choose electronic materials that must meet the standards but do not need approval from the State Board of Education.
If the teachers of Texas dont believe that kids will succeed and get into college using the curriculum that is adopted theyre going to find their own said state Rep. Scott Hochberg D-Houston who authored the laws encouraging the use of electronic instructional materials.
The proposed standards had been roundly criticized by academics and teachers.
More than 1200 college historians signed on to a letter saying the proposed standards distorted the historical record. And a group of six educators who were on the U.S. history writing team this week issued a statement expressing their collective disgust over the boards rewriting of the standards.
The scores of changes made over the past two days done without any official consultation with experts will probably not assuage the concerns of the educators though some language that had drawn criticism was tempered.
Democrats decried the standards as the product of a highly political flawed and heavy-handed process.
State Board of Education members kept up their bitter yearlong ideological tussling until the very end Friday when they finally approved new social studies curriculum standards.
Despite two consecutive 15-hour days of discussion and changes board members still had plenty of steam Friday to argue over issues great and small throughout the standards for history government and economics that serve as the basis for textbooks and lessons in Texas public schools.
They tackled Thomas Jefferson religious freedom communism and more before passing the high school standards on a 9-5 party-line vote with Republicans in the majority. One Republican Geraldine Miller of Dallas had left the meeting before the vote.
The two members representing the Austin area Ken Mercer and Cynthia Dunbar voted with the majority.
The less contentious elementary and middle school standards were approved separately with the same vote tally; the high school economics standards won unanimous approval.
The board had considered more than 400 amendments since board-appointed writing groups made up largely of teachers delivered their final recommendations on new standards in January. The writing groups had spent months revising the previous standards from 1997.
Classroom materials and tests based on the new standards are slated to go into use in the 2012-13 school year but much is in flux that could affect that process.
Texas is wrestling with how to pay for new textbooks amid a looming state budget shortfall. On Friday the board delayed the purchase of new science textbooks to save the state some money in the next two-year budget.
And at the same time schools have been given new flexibility to choose electronic materials that must meet the standards but do not need approval from the State Board of Education.
If the teachers of Texas dont believe that kids will succeed and get into college using the curriculum that is adopted theyre going to find their own said state Rep. Scott Hochberg D-Houston who authored the laws encouraging the use of electronic instructional materials.
The proposed standards had been roundly criticized by academics and teachers.
More than 1200 college historians signed on to a letter saying the proposed standards distorted the historical record. And a group of six educators who were on the U.S. history writing team this week issued a statement expressing their collective disgust over the boards rewriting of the standards.
The scores of changes made over the past two days done without any official consultation with experts will probably not assuage the concerns of the educators though some language that had drawn criticism was tempered.
Democrats decried the standards as the product of a highly political flawed and heavy-handed process.
