The right-wing enablers of the fossil fuel industry have launched an attack on proposed new science textbooks that teach Texas students the truth about climate change. They’re calling on climate deniers to flood the State Board of Education (SBOE) with demands to censor new science textbooks for Grade 8 submitted by publishers this past spring.
With the state board set to vote on the proposed textbooks in a few weeks, we have to fight back now and demand that the state board reject these attempts to censor the truth.
What You Can Do
Here are two ways you can defend science education and help public schools teach the truth about climate change:
Send an email to your state board member (cc'd to [email protected]) and urge them to reject efforts to censor textbooks that teach about climate change.
Submit a comment about any of the textbooks the state board is considering.
✉️ Option 1: Email Your State Board of Education Member ✉️
For additional assurance your message makes it to the SBOE, cc [email protected].
Information to Help You Write Your Email
A joint report this summer from the TFN Education Fund and the National Center for Science Education found that nearly all of the Grade 8 science textbooks meet state science standards and other requirements for teaching about climate change. Scientists and educators we worked with even gave two of the textbooks superior ratings for their coverage of the subject. And official state review panels made up of other science and education experts have now also given the textbooks a thumbs up.
The most effective emails are in your own words, but keep these points in mind when you draft your message:
Scientists and educators, including the state board’s own review teams, affirm that the science textbooks conform to the science standards and other requirements set by the board.
Textbooks should teach students the truth about climate change so that they can become informed adults and voters who are better prepared to address the challenges they will inherit.
Claims that these textbooks are attacking the fossil field industry are false and just an effort to hide from students the overwhelming scientific evidence about climate change. The board shouldn’t play politics with the education of Texas kids.
📖 Option 2: Submit Comments about the Textbooks 📖
The Texas Education Agency is accepting comments about specific textbooks through October 30. If you have the time and expertise to evaluate the treatment of climate change in some of the textbooks and comment accordingly, we encourage you to do so!
TFN is a statewide non-partisan, grassroots organization that is building an informed and effective movement working toward equality and social justice.
Texas Freedom Network P.O. Box 1624 Austin, TX 78767 United States Phone: (512) 322-0545
