The State Board of Education strikes again.

The Texas State Board of Education is set to appoint a social studies curriculum "expert" panel that includes absurdly unqualified ideologues who are hostile to public education and argue that laws and public policies should be based on their narrow interpretations of the Bible.

TFN has obtained the names of "experts" appointed by far-right state board members. Those panelists will guide the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. They include David Barton of the fundamentalist, Texas-based group WallBuilders, whose degree is in religious education, not the social sciences, and the Rev. Peter Marshall of Peter Marshall Ministries in Massachusetts, who suggests that California wildfires and Hurricane Katrina were divine punishments for tolerance of homosexuality.

The two have argued that the Constitution doesn't protect separation of church and state and hold a variety of other extreme views related to religion, education and government, TFN President Kathy Miller said.

By the way, the confirmation of SBOE Chair Don McLeroy is officially dead, as there are enough votes to block it, and not enough time left in the session to bother having a floor fight. McLeroy will still be on the SBOE, and Governor Perry will just make another recess appointment afterward, so the practical effect is nil. But it's a dishonor that McLeroy richly deserves nonetheless. The Observer has more.