According to the links below, Texas has dropped Thomas Jefferson from the list of historically important figures.

I was under the distinct impression that Thomas Jefferson was ...
1. author of the Declaration of Independence;
2. a prime mover of the American Revolution;
3. author of the Virginia statute for religious freedom;
4. representative to House of Burgesses from Albemarle County - 1769-1776;
5. delegate to Continental Congress - 1775-1776 and 1783-1784;
6. minister to negotiate treaties with Barbary States and various European nations - 1784;
7. member of Virginia House of Delegates - 1776-1779;
8. Governor of Virginia - 1779-1781;
9. Minister Plenipotentiary to France - 1785-1789;
10. US Secretary of State - September 26, 1789 - December 31, 1793;
11. Vice President of the United States - March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801;
12. President of the United States - March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809;
13. the president who Directed Louisiana Purchase, purchase of much of the land west of the Mississippi from France - 1803;
14. the president who sent Meriwether Lewis and Thomas Clark on their famous expedition to explore the Western United States - 1804-1806;
15. one of the greatest and most influential political thinkers of all time.

Did you ACTUALLY remove Thomas Jefferson from the list of important historical personages? I find this very difficult to believe, but several sources listed below assert it as a fact.

If you did, then Mark Twain clearly had you in mind when he wrote: "God made the idiot for practice. Then He made the school board."

David F Mayer

PS: I hope that there is somebody in the office that can read this to you guys. You are obviously illiterate yourselves.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/Editorial/2010/03/14/Texas_and_textbooks/

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/texas-removes-thomas-jefferson-from-teaching-standard/19397481

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/03/texas_boe_removes_jefferson_fr.php#c2349003

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5245

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/03/right-wing-education-board-decides-thomas-jefferson-doesnt-belong-in-texas-schoolbooks/