Due to far-right political pressure to censor our state curriculum, the State Board of Education (SBOE) is delaying the state's revision of the social studies TEKS. The last revision was in 2010. Read more in the Texas Tribune.

Sign this petition to demand that the SBOE do its job.

HELP PUSH BACK AGAINST FALSEHOODS CLAIMED by EXTREMISTS

• The proposed TEKS do not violate state law. Teaching about the experiences of diverse communities who have shaped our history including teaching about slavery and discrimination and their effects on those communities, violates no Texas law.
• The proposed TEKS are not “grooming” young children to be LGBTQ+. That is a manufactured fiction claimed by speakers at the SBOE meeting and elsewhere. The actual proposed TEKS would reasonably add the LGBTQ Pride movement to the Civil Rights and women’s liberation movements taught in eighth-grade US History courses.
• The proposed TEKS are not anti-religion or anti-Christian. Contrary to what far-right opponents claimed at the meeting, the draft of the social studies TEKS does address the history and influence of Christianity dozens of times. But they did not include the myth that Moses was a major influence in drafting the US constitution.

Truth was the first casualty on Tuesday at the SBOE meeting. But Texas parents should know that their children will pay the highest price when political extremists hijack their education. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

• Sign this petition to demand that the SBOE do its job.
• Speak out in your communities against extremists who try to intimidate and bully elected officials, school administrators and teachers into censoring public classrooms and limiting access to books.
• Monitor what’s happening in your schools and local communities and show your support for teachers and librarians who feel under siege.
• Don’t allow extremists and haters to dominate the debate at school board meetings and community forums. Speak up in opposition to censorship and against efforts to stigmatize people simply because of who they are.
• Email your SBOE board members to act now to move forward with the new social studies TEKS adoption with first reading in Sept and final vote in November. This vote is on Friday.

[En español]