Report: Texas Board of Education votes to remove Hillary Clinton from history program

The Texas Board of Education voted Friday to remove historic personalities, including Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller, from the mandatory curriculum in Texas schools, the Dallas Morning News reported. The preliminary vote is an attempt by the board to "rationalize" what students learn in social science courses, according to the publication.

Deleting numbers from the program would not prevent teaching about them, but would mean that it is not mandatory.

Friday's vote was not final. Changes can be made to the program before the final vote in November.

Clinton was the first presidential candidate for a big party. Keller was a deaf and blind woman graduated from college and became an activist.

The Dallas Morning News reported that high school students had been "charged with assessing the contributions of important political and social leaders in the United States," including Clinton and other people such as Sandra Day O. Connor and Andrew Carnegie.

The board also decided to keep some references in the curriculum, the removal of which was recommended by a task force to streamline the program, for example a description of "heroism" of people who defended Alamo, according to the Dallas Morning News. . The council voted to keep references to "Judeo-Christian" values ​​and their influence on American politics and history.

They also voted in favor of the reintegration of the biblical Moses figure as an influence on American politics.

A conservative Christian defense group, Texas Values, praised the council's decision in a statement to the Dallas Morning News.

"In Texas, you are not joking with Alamo and you are not playing with our Christian heritage.We applaud the majority of the National Board of Education for doing well in restoring our fundamental rights and our history" said Jonathan Saenz. , the group president.

The Texas Board of Education has already called for controversy over its votes. In 2013, textbook approval this did not include references to creationism as an alternative to evolution was delayed because of the opposition of Christian conservatives.