The Texas State Board of Education reversed course Tuesday, deciding to keep former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the state’s history curriculum.
The board had a preliminary vote in September to remove the former Democratic presidential nominee from the curriculum, but planned to take a final vote on the change in November.
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Eliminating Clinton from the curriculum would not mean teachers would be forbidden from teaching about her, but rather they would not be mandated to do so. The board is also not making any changes to textbooks or other instructional material.
Clinton, the first woman to win a major political party’s presidential nomination, is included in the curriculum in a section about citizenship, where students evaluated “the contributions of significant political and social leaders in the United States.”
On Tuesday, the board cited Clinton’s historic achievement as reason to keep her in the curriculum. The board voted 12-2, with two Republican members voting for her elimination, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Board member Pat Hardy, of Fort Worth, told the news outlet she voted to eliminate Clinton because “she doesn’t represent good citizenship.”
“I just do not respect the woman,” Hardy said. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s done a lot of detrimental things to our country.”
Geraldine Miller, of Dallas, the other member to vote against Clinton, said, “The Benghazi thing kind of did it for me.”
The board will take a final vote on curriculum changes Friday.
