Conservatives push ahead on rewrite

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The State Board of Education is facing an unprecedented 200 speakers today who want to address the board on changes to new social studies standards.

The board, which has gone through contentious rounds to approve English-language arts and science standards, now is facing its most highly publicized task:The conservatives efforts to offer new standards in an effort to create more balanced standards that give conservative views and figures as much exposure as what they consider to be the curriculum's current liberal bias.

Those addressing the board today were almost evenly split about whether the changes were in the right direction.

“Let's tell the truth as it was, not as we want to remember it to be," said Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP. "Let's tell the truth as it happened not how it glorifys it if we tailor it this way or that.”

Jason Moore, a dad from Odessa, had an entirely different point of view.

“I think it is time for us to wake up and see what we’re doing to our kids and see that we’re not promoting those principles and values that made America great," Moore said.

Opposite sides of the same coin today, the head of the NAACP and a worried dad from Odess, each concerned about the curriculum stands and the future of textbooks here and around the country. Conservatives want a return to emphasizing America’s exceptionalism, the value of the free enterprise system, the religious underpinning of our country’s founding. Liberals say this ignores the contributions of minorities and the mistakes America has made over the years.

But after two years of arm wrestling,the standards could get their final vote by Friday, setting the bar for the next 10 years. SBOE Chair Gail Lowe does not expect significant changes before the vote.

“I’m sure there will be amendments but most will be clean up, fix-up type language," Lowe said. "I don’t think there will be vast amounts of substantive changes.”

In March, the board gave tentative approval to a more traditional, conservative approach to education. However, it has received a lot criticism from people who feel the changes are too ideological and not sensitive enough to minority contributions to state history.

“We’re deeply concerned that this board wants to deny Thomas Jefferson’s influence on Enlightenment thinking around the world, deny that the separation of church and state is a key principle of our constitution,” said Kathy Miller with Texas Freedom Network . “We’re concerned that the board is diminishing the struggles of women and minorities in struggling for civil rights and instead wants us to be thankful to the majority for giving us those rights. Mostly, I’m concerned that a skewed sense of history and government will be harmful to our kids as they become citizens of our nation and our state.”

Other said the curriculum is fair and balanced.

“I think most people would agree that the standards are in really good shape,” said Jonathan Saenz, with the Liberty Institute . “There’s been a lot of effort to balance them. One of the myths that have been thrown out there is that Thomas Jefferson has been removed from the standards. That’s absolutely false.”

The board is in for more than 10 hours of testimony. The tone is one of debate, with each speaker answering the board's questions for more than 10 minutes.

The curriculum will set the standards for teaching history and social studies to 4.8 million public school students throughout 10 years. It will be used to develop state tests, and textbook publishers will also use the materials across the country since Texas is one of the largest markets.