https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-education-board-rejects-climate-change-lessons-in-textbooks/
by: Ryan Chandler
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The State Board of Education on Tuesday gave an initial rejection to some science textbooks after concerns over their lessons on climate change.
Members of the 15-seat education policy committee voted on party lines to withhold approval from numerous textbooks that recognize fossil fuels as a cause of manmade climate change.
Among the rejections were publisher Green Ninja’s middle school science textbooks, which provides exercises that direct students to write about the future changes to weather and climate. Another publisher, EduSmart, was struck from the list for depictions that one board member worried cast the oil and gas industry in a “negative light.”
“There’s an overemphasis on the evils of oil and gas and virtues of renewables,” District 15 board member Aaron Kinsey said of another textbook. Kinsey is a Midland Republican and CEO of the oilfield services company American Patrols, which contracts with oil and gas companies to provide aerial surveys.
“I just think this Accelerate learning curriculum does a disservice to our students because it only only presents one side,” Pearland board member Julie Pickren said of another publisher. “A general theme throughout their entire science curriculum is that climate change is manmade. There’s no discussion or presenting different theories.”
