TX activists: Chavez, Marshall must be taught

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Minority activists have urged Texas education officials not to minimize the importance of civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall in public schools.

The State Board of Education in Austin heard testimony in a plan to update the social studies requirements for the state’s 4.6 million K-12 students.

Two members of a board-appointed advisory panel had suggested removing Chavez and Marshall from some curriculum.

Final standards for the 2011-12 school year won’t be adopted until May and are expected to change several times before then.

Among proposed changes are to delete references to Christmas and Rosh Hashanah.

But board chairwoman Gail Lowe said yesterday the holidays would likely remain in the final plan.