Learn about the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), how its decisions affect public schools in Texas and nationwide, and how YOU can advocate for accurate, inclusive textbooks and curricula.
You don’t have to be a teacher or a curriculum expert to make a difference!
The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is a board made up of 15 members elected from districts across the state. Together, the members have several responsibilities, like overseeing the Texas Permanent School Fund and approving charter schools.
But the SBOE’s most high-profile responsibility by far is deciding what is — and isn’t — taught in our public schools. These 15 people control everything that is learned by the 5.5 million-and-counting students in Texas public schools, on every subject. They review curriculum standards, and textbooks are published based on those standards. The SBOE is meant to create curricula that teach the truth and serve the needs of all Texas students — but instead, its conservative members tend to use their extreme influence to push a far-right political agenda.
Oh, and another thing: What happens in Texas doesn’t just stay in Texas. We’re one of the largest markets for textbooks. Major national publishers will create textbooks based on our standards and revisions. Other states will then purchase those textbooks, which means students across the country will receive an education that was not decided by their own state or school district, but by the far-right Texas SBOE.
This is why it’s so important that folks who care about students getting a quality public education pay attention and get involved! Learn more about the SBOE on our blog.
Advocate at the State Board of Education (SBOE) to Support Public Schools Statewide
Current Advocacy Actions
On Monday, April 6, 2026, the SBOE will have its first public reading of the new social studies standards. What happens in the meeting that day will shape whether there is still time to make real changes before these standards are finalized.
TFN and our Teach the Truth partners are mobilizing Texans from across the state to rally, testify, and make clear that our communities are watching. This April 6 meeting is the most critical moment for community input. Can you be there?
You can sign up to:
- Attend our rally
- Testify at the meeting
- Volunteer to help mobilize folks (texting, calling, etc.)
- Volunteer to help manage attendees onsite
- If you want to take your leadership further, we’re also taking signups for media training!
Whether you can be there for an hour or all day, we need real Texans who care about students and quality public education in that room!
Other Ways to Help & Learn
Join Our SBOE Advocacy Community
Support Our SBOE Advocacy: Donate to Our Teach the Truth Campaign
Learn about the History of TFN’s Work at the SBOE
The Revisionaries – 2012 documentary featuring Texas Freedom Network
In Austin, Texas, fifteen people influence what is taught to the next generation of American children.
Once every decade, the highly politicized Texas State Board of Education rewrites the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly 5 million schoolchildren. And when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas affects the nation as a whole.
Don McLeroy, a dentist, Sunday school teacher, and avowed young-earth creationist, leads the Religious Right charge. After briefly serving on his local school board, McLeroy was elected to the Texas State Board of Education and later appointed chairman. During his time on the board, McLeroy has overseen the adoption of new science and history curriculum standards, drawing national attention and placing Texas on the front line of the so-called “culture wars.” In his last term, McLeroy, aided by Cynthia Dunbar, an attorney from Houston and professor of Law at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, finds himself not only fighting to change what Americans are taught, but also fighting to retain his seat on the board.
Challenged by Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, and Ron Wetherington, an anthropology professor from Southern Methodist University in Texas, McLeroy faces his toughest term yet.
THE REVISIONARIES follows the rise and fall of some of the most controversial figures in American education through some of their most tumultuous intellectual battles.
Read TFN’s SBOE & Public Education Reports
- Turning Texas Public Schools into Sunday Schools? A Review of the State’s Proposed K-5 Reading Curriculum (2024 report)
- Grading the Textbooks: How Proposed Science Textbooks in Texas Address Climate Change and Evolution (2023 report)
- Making the Grade: How State Public School Science Standards Address Climate Change (2020 report)
