Texas State School Board Limited In Reviewing Textbook Content

On September 18, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued Opinion No. GA-0456, holding that the State Board of Education may screen textbooks for factual errors, but may not go beyond the powers granted to it by statute in judging textbook content on controversial issues such as evolution, birth control and global warming. In holding this, Abbott reaffirmed a 1996 Attorney General's opinion. However, Abbott overruled one part of the earlier opinion and held that the State Board of Education has similar authority over ancillary materials like teacher manuals, charts and workbooks. Yesterday's Dallas Morning News reported on the AG Opinion. (See prior related posting.)