Rights groups: Texas curriculum biased

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AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Civil rights groups alleged in federal court Texas school social studies curriculum standards discriminate against African-Americans and other minorities.

The Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Texas League of United Latin American Citizens said in Austin that, for example, this year's new curriculum teaches students about the Black Panthers' violence but minimizes Ku Klux Klan violence, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.

The groups' complaint requests the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights review the state's social studies standards, partly because Texas receives approximately $5 billion per year in federal money for public education, the Express-News reported.

"It is our contention that the State Board of Education curriculum changes were made with the intention to discriminate," said the complaint filed by Joey Cardenas Jr., state director of the Texas League of United Latin American Citizens and Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The complaint asks the federal government to investigate "miseducation" of minority students in Texas, "disparate discipline for minority students," the misuse of school accountability sanctions against schools with large numbers of minority students, and the underrepresentation of African-American and Latino students in gifted and talented programs.