Texas Board Rejects Science Textbooks Over Climate and Evolution

The 15-member board approved five textbooks only after forcing publishers to remove material deemed critical of the oil and gas industry. Republican state energy regulator Wayne Christian led the push, arguing that textbooks should not promote what he termed a leftist agenda. Beyond climate, the board targeted evolutionary biology; one textbook secured approval only after deleting illustrations depicting humans as sharing ancestry with great apes.

Board Secretary Patricia Hardy challenged the scientific consensus on human-driven climate change, suggesting that linking extreme weather to fossil fuel consumption is an overreach. Meanwhile, the board rejected at least one publisher specifically for maintaining an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policy. Democratic board member Marisa Perez-Diaz warned that these rejections risk isolating Texas from mainstream educational publishers. The National Science Teaching Association had previously urged the board to avoid these interventions, noting that such objections impede the adoption of accurate science materials. This decision follows a broader trend in the state, where PEN America reports that Texas currently trails only Florida in the volume of school book bans.