Mexican-American Studies in Texas: One Vote, Two Takes

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

News of the Texas State Board of Education vote on the issue of Mexican-American studies spread quickly across social media yesterday.

It’s been an uphill battle for several months and the proponents of Mexican-American studies in Texas schools were elated at the 11-3 vote in favor of the idea they championed: bringing the study of Mexican-American heritage into the state’s classrooms.

The reports have been celebratory. But I’ve come across a version of Wednesday’s vote that explains what happened at a deeper level. I’ve linked two pieces: one from NBCNews that tells the story we’ve all heard; the other from The Associated Press that says the Texas SBOE didn’t do exactly what we think it did … The end result – Mexican-American studies in Texas schools – may be the eventual outcome, in a roundabout way.

Click on the Headlines to read the full stories.

Mexican-American Studies, Other Cultures Now Electives in Texas

By Raul A. Reyes, NBCNews

The Texas State Board of Education voted 11-3 to add elective courses to include Special Topics in Social Studies to include Mexican-, African-, Asian-, and Native American Studies. Cortez’s measure had bipartisan support.

Author and activist Tony Diaz was jubilant over the decision. “This is huge, he said. “We came here for Mexican-American Studies and we actually got more, to benefit more communities. It shows that Texas can be a leader in education.” Under the plan that passed, any school district in Texas will have access to the state-approved curriculum. The state also plans to issue a call to publishers for materials, he said, which could benefit Latino authors and writers.

Texas Board Ducks Mexican-American Studies Vote

By Will Weissert, Associated Press/ABC News

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Board of Education bypassed voting Wednesday on a hotly debated proposal to create a statewide Mexican-American studies course as a high school elective, instead simply asking publishers to submit textbooks for such a class and several other ethnic studies topics by the 2016-2017 school year.

Democratic member Ruben Cortez of Brownsville had promised to call for a vote on creating a stand-alone Mexican-American studies course, and supporters maintained it was key to truly understanding a state that was once part of Mexico and where Hispanics make up 51 percent of public school students.

But opponents dismissed the idea as reverse racism, arguing that it would inject leftist ideology into the classroom. Cortez said when it became clear that the board’s 10 Democrats and five Republicans weren’t ready to support his proposal, he settled on an alternative approach.