R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS the purpose of College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and advanced high school

courses is to prepare students to understand a variety of views and opinions from across the political spectrum,

and to be able to discuss and debate those ideas free from bias and outside influence; and

WHEREAS the systematic or deliberate discouragement of certain points of view within the scope of any

curriculum framework undermines the basic tenets of our society and education system; and

WHEREAS the Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 28.002(h) states: The State Board of Education and each school district shall foster the continuation of the tradition of teaching United States and Texas history

and the free enterprise system in regular subject matter and in reading courses and in the adoption of

instructional materials. A primary purpose of the public school curriculum is to prepare thoughtful, active

citizens who understand the importance of patriotism and can function productively in a free enterprise society

with appreciation for the basic democratic values of our state and national heritage.; and

WHEREAS almost 500,000 U.S. students, approximately 46,000 of whom are from Texas, take the College

Boards Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) course each year; and

WHEREAS the APUSH course may be the final U.S. History class for what many believe are the brightest

and best of our high school students; and

WHEREAS the APUSH course has traditionally been designed to present a balanced view of American

history and to prepare students for college-level history courses; and

WHEREAS the College Board, a private, non-elected organization unaccountable to the public, has recently

released a new 98-page Framework that mandates a highly politicized approach to teaching the APUSH

course; and

WHEREAS the new APUSH Framework reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that is

critical of American exceptionalism and emphasizes negative aspects of our nations history while omitting or

minimizing positive aspects; and

WHEREAS the anti-American, revisionist history of Howard Zinn and his textbook The Peoples Guide to

U.S. History is a recommended textbook in each of the four syllabi originally presented at the Summer 2014

training of APUSH educators; and

WHEREAS the APUSH Framework includes little or no discussion of the Founding Fathers, the principles of

the Declaration of Independence, the religious influences on our nations history, and many other critical

topics that have always been part of the APUSH course; and

WHEREAS the Framework excludes discussion of the U.S. military (no battles, commanders, or heroes) and

omits many significant individuals and events that greatly shaped our nations history (for example, James

Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Cesar

Chavez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Tuskegee Airmen, Navajo Code Talkers, the Battle of Gettysburg, the

Holocaust, D-Day, liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, and the election of our first African-American

President); and

WHEREAS the Framework presents a clearly biased and inaccurate view of many important events in

American history, including the motivations and actions of 17th- through 19

th-century settlers, American

involvement in World War II, the free-enterprise economic explosion in the 1940s through 1960s, the Cuban

Missile Crisis, the development of Cold War tensions and ultimate fall of the Iron Curtain, and the successful

landing of a man on the moon; and

WHEREAS the Framework describes its detailed outline as the required knowledge for APUSH students,

and admits that the APUSH examination will not test information outside this required knowledge; and

WHEREAS because the Framework differs radically from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

so that APUSH teachers will have to ignore the TEKS standards to prepare students for the AP examination;

and

WHEREAS the released APUSH sample examination questions continue, via behavioral testing techniques,

to promote a negative, anti-American bias toward U.S. History; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the elected Texas State Board of Education strongly admonishes the College Board for

failing to listen to the numerous complaints of parents, educators and concerned citizens; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas State Board of Education recommends that a committee be convened to draft an

APUSH Framework that is consistent both with the APUSH courses traditional mission and with the shared

purpose of the CCRS, the TEKS and the Texas Education Code, and with the desires of Texas parents and

other citizens for students to learn the true history of their country; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas State Board of Education requests that Members of the Texas Legislature and

the U.S. Congress investigate this matter; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Texas State Board of Education requests that the College Board rewrite the APUSH

course and examination in a transparent manner to accurately reflect U.S. history without a political bias and

to respect the sovereignty of Texas over its education curriculum; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That upon approval of this resolution the Texas State Board of Education shall promptly deliver

a copy to every Member of the Texas State Legislature and to every Texas Member of the United States

Congress.

WITNESS our signatures this nineteenth day of September, two thousand and fourteen, in Austin, Texas.

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Barbara Cargill, Chair

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Mavis B. Knight, Secretary