Textbooks Win Preliminary Approval in Texas

On November 6, 2003, the Texas Board of Education voted to place all eleven biology textbooks under consideration on the approved list, despite protests of antievolutionist groups about the treatment of evolution in the books. The 11-4 vote was preliminary, and the final vote will take place on November 7.

Samantha Smoot, the executive director of the Texas Freedom Network and one of the most prominent defenders of the textbooks, praised the board for not succumbing to pressure to undermine the textbooks' presentation of evolution: "The voices of the science community have been loud and unified."