Good legislation out of California? I guess it had to happen sometime.
In reaction to the noted conservative bias of the Texas Board of Curriculum, State Senator Leland Yee has introduced a bill that would require the California Board of Education to pay special attention during its textbook reviews for any of the changes approved by the Texas Board, and then report those findings to the state secretary of education and the state legislature, presumably so that those textbooks can be altered or rejected.
Much has been said bout how, as the second largest purchaser of textbooks in the country, the Texas school board has the ability to dictate the content of America’s school books. Well, California is the largest purchaser of textbooks in the country, it just, uh, can’t buy any new textbooks until 2013, due to legislation introduced in order to save school districts money.
Yee’s bill says that Texas’ proposed changes are:
“a sharp departure from widely accepted historical teachings” and “a threat to the apolitical nature of public school governance and academic content standards in California.”
“While some Texas politicians may want to set their educational standards back 50 years, California should not be subject to their backward curriculum changes… The alterations and fallacies made by these extremist conservatives are offensive to our communities and inaccurate of our nation’s diverse history.”
The changes themselves include firm mentions that American founding fathers were “guided by Christian principles,” and a new focus on the conservative resurgence in American politics of the 1980s and ’90s.
The amendments to the state’s curriculum standards also minimize Thomas Jefferson’s role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state, and require that students learn about “the unintended consequences” of affirmative action and Title IX, the landmark federal law that bans gender discrimination in education programs and activities.
If Yee’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he introduced a bill that created a $1,000 fine for retailers who sell mature rated games to minors, a law that is currently on the docket of the Supreme Court.
(via /.)
