Christmas stays in textbooks ... so far

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Young Texans will continue to learn about Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez - and Christmas, too - in school, according to a preliminary vote on Thursday by the Texas State Board of Education.

Many more ideological battles over the curriculum and textbooks for Texas students are expected to spill over into Friday, as the board wrestles with how to teach social studies in public schools.

The role of Christianity in the nation's founding took center stage - from attempts to remove Christmas from the curriculum to suggestions that students be taught that George Washington was saved from death in battle by the hand of God.

More than 100 people spoke earlier this week about the changes to the SBOE members. After this week's preliminary votes, the board is expected to make the final decisions in March.

Among the measures the board agreed to on Thursday was that if students maintain required standards in science, history, and English, they may keep their four years of electives in arts, music and sports - electives that may be incentives for them to remain in school.

Another decision on Thursday: Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez will remain in the textbooks, and the role of Christmas in American culture will be restored.

Liberal and conservative activists are watching each vote anxiously.

Liberal activist Steve Schafersman argues: “The United States is a secular country. Its constitution is secular. That means it cannot either favor religion or disfavor it. It’s the same for ir-religion. It cannot favor ir-religion or disfavor it. And I think that’s the fair, balanced secular viewpoint.”

Jonathan Saenz, of the conservative Free Market Foundation, believes the board will, overall, decide to teach religious ideology in schools - and he says that's what Texans want.

“The whole effort to scare the State Board of Education and censor religious heritage, which we know is a fact of our country, is going down - and the State Board of Education is going to side with the Texas people,” Saenz said.

The board has chosen six reviewers to make recommendations on how to change the curriculum.

A couple of those reviewers are prominent Evangelicals, who believe the founding fathers intended for the United States to be a Christian nation. They are recommending the board change the curriculum so students learn more about biblical principles surrounding the nation's beginning.

However, opponents call the idea another attempt to cross the line between church and state and inject more Christian teachings into the state's secular public school system.