CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Seven laws take effect today in Texas, covering everything from social media to what can be taught in schools.
Senate Bill 3 has also been referred to as the "critical race theory" bill. It is meant to impact what students are taught as part of their social studies curriculum.
Gov. Greg Abbott introduced the bill, saying more must be done to abolish critical race theory in Texas.
Republican lawmakers say critical race theory promotes racial divisiveness.
Teachers and experts say critical race theory is not being taught in K-12 schools. They argue students will not be able to explore and engage in social studies, civics, current events and history.
"Language of the bill requires that racial topics be taught quite on quote free from political bias, that's a very difficult term to define and the application of that is like a slippery slope," said Shane Gleason, an associate professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
In an email to othe Texas Tribune, the State Board of Education said most of the items banned were not part of the state education standards to begin with.
Under Section 9 of thenew bill's text, the State Board of Education is not allowed to use the removed items by this act of documents.
For other special session laws set to take effect, click here.
