Costs of changing textbooks may stymie Texas curriculum revisions

FromThe Austin American-Statesman: There was never any doubt that the Texas State Board of Education would adopt curriculum standards that pushed a radical, socially conservative view of history. What is in doubt is whether those standards written on the fly and adopted over the objections of academic experts and educators will ever find their way into textbooks. Earlier...from The Dallas Morning News: The Texas State Board of Education has approved new curriculum standards for U.S. history and other social studies courses that reflect a more conservative tone than in the past. Split along party lines, the board voted 9-5 to adopt the new standards, which will dictate what is taught in all Texas schools and provide the basis for future textbooks and student achievement tests over the next decade. Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states because national publishers typically tailor their materials to Texas, one of the biggest textbook purchasers in the country. The curriculum standard that would encourage high school students to question the legal doctrine of church-state separation.