Texas history standards get final approval

AUSTIN, Texas, May 22 (UPI) -- The Texas State Board of Education has given final approval to standards for history textbooks designed to correct a perceived leftist slant, officials said.

The 9-5 vote late Friday followed party lines, The Dallas Morning News reported. Mavis Knight, a Democratic board member from Dallas, said the vote was a "travesty" with the majority creating a set of political standards.

"I think we've corrected the imbalance we've had in the past and now have our curriculum headed straight down the middle," said Don McLeroy, a Republican board member. "I'm very pleased with what we've accomplished."

Texas is one of the largest purchasers of school textbooks in the country, so the standards could affect the books used in other states. Some observers have suggested the effect will be limited because the standards are so extreme.

Among the changes now required for Texas public school textbooks are information on leading conservative groups and figures of recent decades and the suggestion that the Constitution does not mandate the separation of church and state.

The board rejected a Democratic move to postpone the final vote.