The Texas Board of Education is holding public hearings and will vote this week on the content of textbooks, which will impact many other states that follow Texas' lead.
One of the major problems is a push by a small group that wants to censor religious information regarding historical figures from textbooks. Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs at Free Market Foundation, tells OneNewsNow the group has been very aggressive.
"We just think it's ridiculous," he says. "If you're going to talk about history and social studies, we should be doing it accurately; we should do it in a factual way," Saenz contends. "If some of our historical events and figures, [and] part of their history and significance has to do with their religious beliefs, then students should not be banned from being taught about that."
Saenz cites an example of Martin Luther King, Jr., and suggests that if teachers acknowledge him, they should also be able to say he was a Christian and how that influenced his role in the civil rights movement. The legislative affairs director says opponents are bringing up the tired and false argument of separation of church and state...