What happens in Texas this week may influence what is taught to Maine schoolchildren.
We confirmed last week with the state Department of Education that local school districts control what textbooks are purchased in Maine's school districts. So the good news is that all parents who care about what their children are being taught in school can have some influence with their local school boards to ensure that those textbooks are impartial, unbiased reviews of history. The bad news is that many local school districts may not have the resources or the clout to keep extremely biased textbooks based on the Texas model out of the classroom.
The Texas State Board of Education will take final votes on proposed rules for Texas textbooks by the end of the week. We were alarmed one month ago when we read about proposed changes appearing to vindicate Senator Joseph McCarthy's actions and stigmatize Muslims. This week, one of the SBOE Board Members announced new even more extremist proposal that would require students to study how the United Nations supposedly harms United States sovereignty.
You can take action now by e-mailing your concerns to the Texas State Board of Education by tomorrow. Take action here.
Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks in the country, so their standards influence the content of textbooks sold to the rest of us. In the digital age, publishers may tailor textbooks to individual states, but traditionally the Texas standards have dominated. In March, the Texas State Board of Education approved changes to the social studies curriculum requirements that reflect explicit bias.
Politicians should not be writing our children's social studies books.