The State Board of Education is holding two potentially emotionally charged public hearings on high school graduation requirements and what science textbooks should be approved for classrooms across Texas.
Members will hear testimony Tuesday as they devise new graduation standards under a curriculum overhaul overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature this summer.
The law reduced how many standardized tests high school students must pass.
It also rewrote course requirements to promote vocational training rather than strictly college prep classes.
The debate over graduation standards is white-hot. But it may be overshadowed by a second hearing on science books seeking board approval.
That has sparked an outcry from some conservatives. They want creationism, or that a higher power made the universe, taught along with the theory of evolution in science classes statewide.
