Texas to consider Mexican-American studies curriculum

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) will discuss a proposal for the addition of Mexican-American studies to its public school curriculum later this month as part of "new course wish list," a spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) told The Stream on Friday.

The news comes a day after a local Texas news organization reported that SBOE member Ruben Cortez submitted a November 21 request to include Mexican-American studies to the list of potential new courses after activists from M.A.S. Texas (Mexican American Studies in Texas Schools) made public comments at the board meeting.

Cortez told The Texas Observer, "Nobody raised an objection to my request. I was kind of speechless, everybody just stayed quiet."

SBOE meetings can be publicly viewed, but official minutes containing Cortez's proposal have yet to be approved. According to the TEA spokesperson, a discussion about Mexican-American studies will be part of SBOE's next meeting, scheduled for January 28-31....