The Final Fight for Texas History
Texas has never followed the crowd.
We have led — in freedom, in faith, in opportunity, and in courage.
Now we must lead again.
The revision of the Texas History Curriculum is one of the most important education moments of our generation. The working groups are made up of 95% wonderful Texas teachers. In fact, by the end of this process, more teachers will have participated than in any TEKS revision in Texas history. That is something to celebrate.
Our teachers — the vast majority — worked diligently to build a curriculum that is chronological, comprehensive, and rooted in truth. They sought to spiral knowledge so that our students develop a deep understanding of liberty, virtue, sacrifice, and the foundations of American and Texas greatness.
But here is the concern.
A small but radical minority — aligned with far-left SBOE members and influenced by activist organizations such as the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), American Federation of Teachers, American Historical Association, and even the Democratic Socialists of America — worked to subvert the recommendations of the overwhelming majority of Texas teachers.
Don’t forget, these are the very same entities promoting this kind of nonsense in our schools, like the NCSS pushing Rethinking Schools featured books:
It only takes a few ideologues to distort clarity.
Texans must not allow that to happen. So here’s what you need to know in preparation for the SBOE meeting next week:
What the radicals on Work Groups Fought to Remove — By Grade Level
Kindergarten: Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of American Identity
In Kindergarten, radicals removed the story of Benjamin Franklin’s key and kite experiment.
Benjamin Franklin is often called “the First American” because he was among the first prominent figures to shift from identifying as a British subject to advocating for a distinct American identity and unity. He was the only person to sign all three founding documents of our nation:
The Declaration of Independence
The Treaty of Paris
The United States Constitution
Franklin’s intense curiosity led him to study electricity and lightning, proving that lightning is electrical and inventing the lightning rod — a device that protected homes from fire and saved lives.
Why remove this?
His story represents curiosity, courage, ingenuity, and the uniquely American spirit of discovery. Removing it removes more than a science lesson — it removes a foundational example of American character.
1st Grade: Texas Culture and the Missions
In 1st grade, radicals fought to remove references to:
Horses
Bluebonnets
Missions
How can Texas children understand the battle cry “Remember the Alamo!” if they do not even understand what a mission is?
The curriculum is designed to build chronologically — to plant the seeds of freedom early so students grasp the development of American and Texas ideals over time. Missions are central to Texas history and taught throughout elementary grades. But foundational understanding must begin early.
Removing references to missions undermines students’ ability to understand one of the most defining chapters in Texas history.
Texas culture is not an accessory. It is essential.
3rd Grade: The Erasure of Christian Influence
In 3rd grade, references to Christianity’s influence on Western civilization were removed.
Gone. All. Of. Them!
No meaningful acknowledgment of:
The Golden Rule
The Good Samaritan
Christianity’s influence on our culture
The moral framework that shaped individual liberty
In public comments by work group members, stories reinforcing values such as doing what is right, treating others with dignity, individual freedom, and personal responsibility were labeled “redundant.”
Redundant? How insane is that?
The foundations of Western civilization are rooted in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem.
To understand America — to understand Texas — students must understand the influence of Christianity on concepts such as:
The inherent dignity of the individual
Moral equality
The rule of law
The sanctity of freedom
Erasing that influence does not make history neutral. It makes it incomplete – just what radical revisionists want.
4th Grade: Columbus Day and Cultural Substitution
In 4th grade, there is a push to add “Indigenous Peoples Day” in a manner that reframes or diminishes Columbus Day under a DEI framework. “We aren’t eliminating Columbus Day. We are including Indigenous People” is their claim. But do you wonder where that idea came from? Look no further than the radical leftist ideologues at the NCSS again.
Texans have seen how this plays out where we “include” the revisionist’s’ ideas under the idea of “inclusivity”, only to see American culture replaced with leftist ideals.
We have watched school districts alter long-standing traditions. Remember when the radicals at Texas State Teachers Association, and the NEA celebrated Trans Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday? Didn’t take long for public school affiliates like Dripping Springs Public School Alliance to join in!
Then, within a few years, we have the largest national and Texas teacher unions promoting transgender ideology “including” it with Easter Day. Within 2 years, an ISD has totally removed Good Friday as a holiday. Yes, right next door to Dripping Springs ISD, Austin ISD has removed Good Friday, one of Christianity’s holiest days of the year. But it gets worse. Not only did Austin ISD, eliminate Good Friday and replaced it with César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school years, which absorbed and reinforced the Marxist shift in our public schools. Topping off the normalization of the destruction of our culture, Austin ISD is celebrating Eid al-Fitr — one of Islam’s two most significant religious holidays—scheduled for March 20,2026. No Good Friday in one of our largest ISDs, but a major Islamic holiday promoted and celebrated to Texas students. What is going on here?
Texans, DO NOT fall for this subversion. Do NOT let the leftist revisionists destroy Texas culture by revising history under the guise of “consensus.”
What begins as addition or “inclusion” often becomes substitution and dominance.
History should be taught honestly — not restructured to satisfy modern ideological trends.
5th Grade: Revising the History of Slavery
Slavery was evil. We can all agree.
It was a horrific moral failing and a stain on human history. And it must be taught fully and truthfully to ensure Texas students know the full story in context to history.
But radicals within the workgroups are insisting on removing key historical facts that give a full understanding, including:
That different African tribes captured and sold other Africans into slavery. This was removed because they claim in their publicly available notes that we should cut that information out to "Streamline for emotional appropriateness”
They have also excluded the fact that of the 11 to 12 million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas, approximately 500,000 — or 4.5% — and taken to mainland North America (what became the United States)
While over over 95% of enslaved Africans in the New World were taken to South America and the Caribbean.
These are verifiable facts, even from a left of center, but respected organization called the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. They explain:
“In all, some eleven to twelve million Africans were forcibly carried to the Americas. Of those, roughly one-half million (or about 4.5 percent) were taken to mainland North America or what became the United States.”
What is really going on here is that in teaching the evils of slavery, a few radicals want to frame this terrible situation as an invention by white Europeans and Americans, rather than evil history of man since the beginning of time. But removing historical context risks presenting slavery as a uniquely Western or uniquely American institution. Which is exactly why the radicals at the American History Association (AHA) claim that it is “historical consensus” to promote the idea that freedom rose with slavery. What a bunch of baloney, AHA! It’s not a consensus, nor should we allow anti-American critical theorists to influence our history standards for Texas kids.
Students must learn that slavery existed across civilizations and continents for millennia -since time and memorial. America’s founding principles — rooted in liberty and individual rights — ultimately became the framework for its abolition. For the so-called “historians” promoting that divisive nonsense, I invite you to read Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas. Until then, please exit from the discussion regarding how Texans educate our students with facts. Because we must teach the evil clearly and we must teach the whole truth.
The Larger Consequence
For decades, vague standards have produced confusion rather than clarity. Teachers have had little guidance on what they are expected to teach students. Which explains why just 70% of Texas students are failing our 8th grade history exam.
We are witnessing a generation that increasingly misunderstands the foundations of American liberty. These compromises that have whittled away at history standards and western civilization for years has been based on nice people looking to build consensus with these radicals — it is erosion.
The majority of Texas teachers worked to create clarity and excellence. A small minority worked to make standards vague and ideologically pliable. Texas cannot afford that.
Texans, This Is Our Moment
This is not about partisanship.
It is about whether our children will learn:
The full story of slavery — not a selective one.
The influence of Christianity on Western civilization.
The courage of our Founders.
The significance of missions and the Alamo.
The ideas born out of Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem.
The development of liberty over 250 years of American history.
Texas has always defended what is true.
We must do so again.
Show Up. Stand Firm. Defend Honest History.
Wednesday, February 25th.
We need you to show up and testify in-person on February 25th at 1601 N. Congress Avenue, Austin, TX
Tell the Board that you support the proposed curriculum changes, which return important stories and content from American history. Students should learn from timeless stories that have had a major influence on our civilization.
Support the 95% of teachers who worked in good faith. Reject ideological revision. Demand clarity. Insist on truth.
We cannot substitute our history for revisionists demands, like coupling Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day or any other intentions that we see in public schools already.
Registration Closes Friday, February 20 at 5:00 p.m. (CT)
Register online here:
https://sboe.texas.gov/about-tea/leadership/state-board-of-education/sboe-meetings/public-testimony-registration
Registered testifiers who are unable to speak due to time constraints may provide an electronic copy of their testimony to testimony@sboe.texas.gov for distribution to board members and staff.
Texas should have the finest history curriculum in the nation — not one diluted by activism.
Our children deserve nothing less.