Conservative members of the Texas State Board of Education ”“ as they see it ”“ struck a blow last week against a liberal bias in education.

In reality, the majority faction has set back education by adopting a right-wing social studies curriculum. The new standards take a mistaken view of the Christian roots of the United States and an unduly skeptical view of evolution.

Seeking to rewrite history, these conservative partisans also sought to erase details of the civil rights struggle and to make the case that the founders never intended today’s separation of church and state.

They defeated the efforts of another group of activists to emphasize the contributions of Hispanic Americans. And they struck a blow for political correctness by insisting that students be taught about Phyllis Shafley, the Contract with America and other elements of “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.”

Some of the justifications are comic in their absurdity. Since the U.S. is a republic, they said, texts should replace all references to “democratic values” with “republican values.”

Even in Texas, this may be going too far. The conservative chairman of the education board was defeated this month by a more moderate Republican, and will be out of office by the time the panel starts working on the science curriculum.

Politics is an effective way of sorting out priorities in public policy. But allowing partisanship into school lesson plans is no way to improve education.