Texas Education Board Rejects Majority of Proposed Science Textbooks Over Climate Change Content

Five textbooks approved amid controversy over portrayal of climate change and publishers' environmental policies.

The Texas State Board of Education rejected seven of 12 proposed science textbooks for eighth graders that included information on climate change.
The board approved five textbooks for eighth grade science from Savvas Learning Company, McGraw-Hill School Division, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Depository, Accelerate Learning and Summit K-12.
The board's decision was influenced by the textbooks' portrayal of climate change, their inclusion of policy solutions for climate change, and whether they were produced by companies with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies.
Texas is one of only six states that does not use the Next Generation Science Standards to guide its K-12 science curriculum.
Texas lawmakers in 2021 prohibited state funds from contracting with or investing in companies that divest from oil, natural gas and coal companies.