AUSTIN, Texas >> History curriculum in Texas remembers the Alamo but could soon forget Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

As part of an effort to “streamline” the social studies curriculum in Texas, the State Board of Education voted today to change what students in every grade are required to learn in the classroom. They voted to remove several historical figures, including Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

The board also voted to add back into the curriculum a reference to the “heroism” of the defenders of the Alamo, which had been recommended for elimination, as well as Moses’ influence on the writing of the founding documents, multiple references to “Judeo-Christian” values and a requirement that students explain how the “Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict” in the Middle East.

The vote today was preliminary. The board, which is elected to represent geographic areas, will take a final vote on these curriculum changes in November and can make further amendments before then.

The Dallas Morning News reached out to all 15 members of the state Board of Education for comment about the Clinton and Keller deletions. Barbara Cargill, a Republican from Houston and former board chairwoman, responded, saying, “the recommendation to eliminate Helen Keller and Hillary Clinton was made by (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) work groups. However, the board did vote to agree with the work groups’ recommendations. In speaking to teachers and testifiers, they did not mention these specific deletions.”

High schoolers have been required to learn about Clinton, who was the first woman to win a major political party’s presidential nomination, in history class. She was included in the curriculum under a section about citizenship, where students were required to “evaluate the contributions of significant political and social leaders in the United States,” including Andrew Carnegie, Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor.

Barry Goldwater was also removed from this teaching requirement. A work groups tasked with the streamlining recommended axing American evangelist and Baptist pastor Billy Graham, but the state board added him back earlier this week.

Third-grade social studies teachers have also been required to educate kids about the life of Keller, who despite being deaf and blind went on to college and a life of activism and authorship. But Keller did not make the work group’s cut, and students in other grades aren’t required to learn about her life.

Removing figures like these from the curriculum wouldn’t mean teachers are forbidden from teaching them, but they will no longer be required to do so.

So why didn’t Clinton, Keller and several dozen other historical figures make the cut?

The News spoke with two teachers who sat on a group of volunteers that made these recommendations to the board. Both said the state requires students to learn too many historical figures, so the kids fall back on rote memorization of dates and names instead of real learning.

That 15-member volunteer work group came up with a rubric for grading every historical figure to find of who is “essential” to learn and who wasn’t. They asked questions like, Did the person trigger a watershed change? Was the person from an underrepresented group? Will their impact stand the test of time?

Out of 20 points, Keller scored a 7. Out of 21 points, Clinton scored a 5. Eliminating Clinton from the requirements will save teachers 30 minutes of instructional time, the work group estimated, and eliminating Keller will save 40 minutes.

By contrast, local members of the Texas Legislature (who are taught in fourth grade) got a perfect score, as did Barbara Jordan, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Henry B. Gonzalez. President Donald Trump isn’t included in the list by name, but students are required to learn about the current president, governor and mayor.

Earlier this year the work group split up, and each took a group of figures to grade using the rubric, according to the two teachers, who both said they wanted to keep politics out of the decisions.

“There were hundreds of people” kids had to learn, Misty Matthews, a teacher in Round Rock, said. “Our task was to simplify. … We tried to make it as objective as possible.”

Jana Poth added that the work group did “not want to offend anyone” with their choices, “but there’s too many people.”

Third-graders, for example, are required to learn about three dozen people. Fourth-graders have to learn about 69, and in eighth grade, when students take the STAAR social studies test, they must learn about 50 historical figures.

Neither Poth nor Matthews said they were in the small group that made the decisions about Clinton and Keller. In a note next to the deletion from the Grade 3 social studies curriculum, where Keller is included in a lesson about “the characteristics of good citizenship,” the work group wrote, “Helen Keller does not best represent the concept of citizenship. Military and first responders are best represented.”

There was no comment next the recommendation to remove Clinton. Students in that grade are still required to learn about former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Chris Turner urged the board to reject these deletions at their November meeting.

“If Helen Keller was an important historical figure when I was in school (and she was), then she still is today,” Turner, D-Grand Prairie, tweeted. “Clinton is the 1st and only woman to be the presidential nominee of a major party in U.S. history. Enough said.”

Work groups were assigned to look at each grade’s curriculum and suggest ways to streamline it. These groups — made up of volunteers nominated by the state board — made dozens of recommendations. The state board accepted many of the changes and rejected some.

Here are some of the changes the board approved today:

Grade 1

Replace San Jacinto Day with Constitution Day in a section on “the origins of customs, holidays, and celebrations of the community, state, and nation.”

Grade 3

Remove Helen Keller from section on “citizenship.”

Grade 4

Remove Poteet Strawberry Festival from a section on “customs, celebrations, and traditions of various cultural, regional, and local groups in Texas.”

Remove the phrase “such as holding public officials to their word” from a requirement that students learn “how individuals can participate voluntarily in civic affairs at state and local levels.”

Grade 5

Amend section on the Civil War to recognize the “central role of the expansion of slavery in causing the Civil War and other contributing factors including sectionalism and states’ rights.” Previous language included a list of factors, among them slavery and states’ rights.

Grade 7

Reinsert requirement to learn the William B. Travis letter and reference to “the heroism of the diverse defenders who gave their lives” at the Alamo. (The work group had recommended cutting it.)

U.S. government (high school)

The work group recommended these be removed, but the board will vote to reinsert them.

Reinsert references to “Judeo-Christian (especially biblical law)” in section on “major intellectual, philosophical, political, and religious traditions that informed the American founding.”

Reinsert the biblical figure of Moses and remove Thomas Hobbes from section on “individuals whose principles of laws and government institutions informed the American founding.”

World history (high school)

The work group recommended these be removed, but the board will vote to reinsert them.

Reinsert reference to “German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Normandy landings, and the dropping of the atomic bombs” from section on “the major causes and events of World War II.” Remove “Japanese imperialism” from that list.

Reinsert “Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict” in section on “the rise of independence movements in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia and reasons for ongoing conflicts.”

Reinsert reference to “the Judeo-Christian legal tradition” in section on “the development of democratic-republican government from its beginnings.”

U.S. history from 1877 (high school)

Remove phrase “describe the optimism of the many immigrants who sought a better life in America” in section on “analyze social issues affecting women, minorities, children, immigrants, and urbanization.”

Reinsert reference to “eugenics” in section on “causes and effects of events and social issues such as immigration, Social Darwinism, the Scopes Trial, race relations, nativism, the Red Scare, Prohibition, and the changing role of women.”

Add Dolores Huerta to section on “significant leaders who supported various rights movements, including Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez” and more.

Remove Hillary Clinton from a section on “the contributions of significant political and social leaders in the United States such as Andrew Carnegie, Thurgood Marshall, Billy Graham” and more.