TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   "Experts" on Social Studies Make Strategic Retreat at State Board--Lull Before Storm?   Earlier this year members of the State Board of Education raised eyebrows by appointing as "expert" reviewers of draft social-studies standards an evangelical minister and an activist for the teaching of "the Godly foundation of our country." In written and oral comments, these two reviewers, Peter Marshall of Peter Marshall Ministries and David Barton of the WallBuilders organization, predictably stressed their desire for inclusion of specifically Christian-oriented curriculum content at every turn. They also criticized the proposed inclusion of labor leader Cesar Chavez and civil-rights leader and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as Americans worthy of Texas students' attention.   In testimony at this week's State Board of Education meeting, Marshall and Barton backed off from their previous remarks about Chavez and Marshall, and it looks as if these major figures in recent American history will continue to be cited in the social-studies standards. But they maintained their insistence on pervasive coverage of the role of religion, and specifically of evangelical Christianity, in U.S. history--in marked contrast to the testimony of other social-studies reviewers, all of whom are university professors with extensive expertise in the teaching of social studies.   SBOE members who named Marshall and Barton to the review panel, such as Don McLeroy, Republican of College Station, made it clear that they will continue pursuing this agenda when the Board meets again in January to consider a second draft of the social-studies curriculum guidelines. The flavor of the SBOE discussion can be gleaned from several of McLeroy's comments. While "we are not a Christian nation," McLeroy said, he insisted with Marshall and Barton that textbooks should teach that the nation was founded on Christian principles. McLeroy added: "The atheist secularists today say there is no truth and we just evolved. And those are clearly not the principles enunciated in our nation's founding documents."   Teachers serving on the social-studies drafting teams reportedly raised questions about the lax criteria for SBOE appointment of "experts" to review the draft social-studies standards, and they were right to do so. It seems any two SBOE members can nominate a reviewer, who need have no academic training or teaching credentials in the subject under review.   The editors at the Longview News Journal have been watching the SBOE's deliberations over the past year on new guidelines for English language arts, science, and now social studies. They speak for many with this editorial assessment published today: "Reform is needed in how this state determines curriculum and textbooks. We believe educators ought to determine textbook content. For example, appoint renowned history professors from the state's universities to set those standards, instead of allowing a politicized board to do so. We can never completely eliminate subjectivity from the process of determining the weight of various historical figures. But we would be far more comfortable if those decisions were being made by professionally trained academicians, instead of ideologues--no matter their political bent."