The State Board of Education Board, ending nearly two years of politically divisive deliberations, approved new social studies curriculum standards for the state's 4.7 million students despite vigorous objections from the board's five minority members.The revisions have drawn national attention amid complaints that conservative Republicans on the board are attempting to alter history and trying to inject their political beliefs into the curriculum.
Minorities reiterated assertions that the standards ignored the role of Hispanics and African-Americans in Texas history and glossed over generations of abuses.
Several minority members, previewing their intentions to vote against the curriculum standards, denounced the document and made an unsuccessful push to delay the final vote on the high school curriculum until the next board meeting in July.
"I don't know what this is,'' Rick Agosto, a San Antonio Democrat, said of the standards. "In the trash - that's exactly where I'm going to put it."
Mavis Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, called the product a "travesty," declaring: "I'm ashamed of what we have done to the students and teachers of this state."
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