Texas SBOE Recent Textbook Decisions

The Texas State Board of Education rejected seven of 12 proposed science textbooks for eighth graders that for the first time will require them to include information on climate change. The 15-member board largely rejected the books either because they included policy solutions for climate change or because they were produced by a company that has an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policy. Some textbooks were also rejected because SBOE reviewers gave the books lower scores on how well they adhered to the state’s curriculum standards.

The board voted Friday to allow five textbooks for eighth grade science to be included on the list, published by Savvas Learning Company, McGraw-Hill School Division, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Depository, Accelerate Learning and Summit K-12. San Antonio Democratic board member Marisa Perez-Diaz said she was disappointed by Friday’s decision to reject so many textbooks, some that included Spanish texts.

While school districts are not required to choose only from the SBOE-curated list, many school districts choose to do so because those textbooks are guaranteed to be in compliance with the state’s curriculum standards. A science curriculum overhaul approved two years ago threw eighth grade science textbooks, in particular, into the political fray. The new standards will require, for the first time next year, that Texas eighth graders learn about climate change — meaning that textbook manufacturers had to update their teaching materials.

Texas is one of only six states that does not use the Next Generation Science Standards to guide its K-12 science curriculum. The updated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, require eighth graders to learn about climate change and describe how human activities “can” influence the climate. Critics have said that the standards don’t go far enough, arguing that the requirements don’t ensure students will learn how reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels could mitigate climate change. The curriculum change was approved before many of the current board members were elected.  

Many board members voted against books that they said were written by companies with environmentally friendly corporate policies or that went too far in teaching students how to advocate for climate solutions. Others wanted more emphasis on religion or argued that scientific theories should not be taught as fact. Evelyn Brooks, a Republican board member from Frisco, on Tuesday questioned the scientific consensus on climate change and suggested that “creation” should be taught alongside scientific theories of the origins of the universe. Brooks was first elected to the board in 2022 and said that she wanted to see more perspectives of people of faith included in the books.

Board Chair Keven Ellis, a Lufkin Republican with six years on the board, responded that he believed the board had previously pushed the textbook standards “as far as we can go on that” without the books being determined unconstitutional. In another Tuesday discussion, board member Julie Pickren, a Pearland Republican who has represented District 7 since January, complained that some of the textbooks presented a “theme” that humans are causing climate change.

Throughout the Tuesday meeting, Pickren motioned to remove several textbooks from the SBOE’s list. She successfully motioned to remove the textbooks created by Discovery Education on Tuesday, arguing that the company has an initiative that’s aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and that the initiative was a “theme replicated throughout the curriculum.” Pickren was concerned that the book might violate anti-ESG state laws.

Following the SBOE’s actions, Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian applauded the outcome and said the following:

“Students need to learn about fossil fuels and real-world energy, where it comes from, how it works, and most importantly how it creates a better world,” said Commissioner Wayne Christian. “America’s future generations don’t need a leftist agenda brainwashing them in the classroom to hate oil and natural gas. Our economy needs STEM students that understand the difference between dispatchable, reliable power and intermittent, unreliable power. Fossil fuels help power 80% of global energy, make 96% of consumer items, finance our state and national economies, and feed billions of people all over the world. The Texas State Board of Education did the right thing by rejecting radical environmentalist propaganda on ‘net zero’ and ensuring our students learn the benefits of fossil fuels.”

The Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) is the state agency with primary regulatory jurisdiction over the oil and natural gas industry, pipeline transporters, natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry, natural gas utilities, the LP-gas industry, critical natural gas infrastructure, and coal and uranium surface mining operations.