Because Texas is such a large state, the companies that print textbooks pay attention to what Texans want taught in schools. Keep that in mind as you consider the actions of the ideologically divided Texas Board of Education. Conservatives on the board edge out liberals and that could mean students could learn less about the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, and more about religious thinkers Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin under preliminary changes passed by the board on Friday. The board decided in November to proceed on its revision of the standards without further formal input from scholars and classroom teachers. As a result, board members cast their votes in January and March without any guidance from classroom teachers or experts in the social sciences. Among other changes, according to the nonpartisan Texas Freedom Network, the board wants the word "capitalism" from the standards, mandating that the term "free enterprise" be used instead. Board members such as Terri Leo and Ken Mercer say the word "capitalism" is a negative term used by "liberal professors in academia."

• The board removed Santa Barraza from a Grade 7 Texas history standard on Texans who have made contributions to the arts. Conservatives objected to one of her paintings depicting of a woman's exposed breasts. Forget the fact that some of Barraza's works had been displayed in the Texas Governor's Mansion during the gubernatorial administration of Republican George W. Bush in the 1990s.
• Board members added Friedrich von Hayek to a standard in the high school economics course even though some board members acknowledged that they had no idea who the influential Austrian-born economist even was.
• In a high school government standard about "the importance of the expression of different points of view in a democratic republic," board conservatives added a requirement that students learn about the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.

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Supposedly offensive art by Santa Barraza

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