Who is this Thomas Jefferson you keep talking about?

I've got some posts coming up on the role curriculum plays in educational reform. In the meantime, check out what's happening in Texas* with the state board of education. Since the Lone Star state is such a big market they have a history of setting textbook content for the nation.

Here's the change that really caught my eye:

Thomas Jefferson no longer included among writers influencing the nation’s intellectual origins. Jefferson, a deist who helped pioneer the legal theory of the separation of church and state, is not a model founder in the board’s judgment. Among the intellectual forerunners to be highlighted in Jefferson’s place: medieval Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas, Puritan theologian John Calvin and conservative British law scholar William Blackstone. Heavy emphasis is also to be placed on the founding fathers having been guided by strict Christian beliefs.

* I'm a Texan by birth. I'm allowed to mock.