Subverting Climate Science in the Classroom

Oil and gas lobbyists actively manipulate educational standards for Texas school children.

A Shell Oil Company lawyer won a board of education debate, changing verbiage for eighth grade textbooks from “describe efforts to mitigate climate change” to simply “describe the carbon cycle.” Around the United States, similar meetings about reading lists, face masks and structural racism curricula have devolved into shouting matches over two years.

Texas state school boards are trying for the first time to set standards for what students learn at all grade levels about the science underlying climate change. Disputes have erupted between educators and industry representatives on the boards, who strive to create a positive spin on fossil fuels.

Standards adoptions boards are bureaucratic, but their decisions largely control classroom content.

Publishers consult these standards, and educators use them to design standardized lesson plans and tests.

In 2020, the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network hired experts to rate science education standards across the United States, based on climate crisis coverage. Thirty states...