Replacing ex-congressman in history books with actors one proposal before Texas school board

John Wayne was on a postage stamp, but was he a political or social leader? Just months after concluding that human evolution should still be taught in Texas science classes, the State Board of Education is rewriting the state's social-studies curriculum. Among the proposals on the table: substituting actors Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, both Republicans, for former U.S. Rep Henry B. Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat, on a list of significant political and social leaders in the U.S.; labeling the U.S. form of government as "republican" instead of "democratic" for fourth-graders (technically correct); and including Rush Limbaugh on a high-school history list of significant conservative advocacy groups and individuals.

These proposals and others are questions board members will tackle in their first public hearings on the curriculum today, Terrence Stutz of the The Dallas Morning News reports. "Some board members and some groups have indicated there will be a fight over many of these standards, and I believe there will be a fight, much as I would like to avoid it," board member Marvis Knight told Stutz.

A panel of six experts, three appointed by conservative Republicans and three appointed by Democrats and moderate Republicans, was created to guide drafting of the standards. The three moderate appointees largely supported the work of writing teams, Stutz reports, while the three conservative appointees have "proposed significant changes, including a greater emphasis on the role of religion in the establishment of the U.S. and its political system."

The socially conservative appointees "are providing cover for those board members to drag our kids' classrooms through the cultural wars again," Kathy Miller, the president of the Texas Freedom Network, a non-profit group for separation of church and state, told Stutz. Jonathan Sanchez of the Free Market Foundation, which supports the efforts of social conservatives, said "the experts are highly qualified and will make sure key issues in the study of history and other subjects are protected." (Read more)