Classes attended by Texas' more than 5 million public school students could have more emphasis on the Bible and minimized coverage of race and culture issues after final votes expected Friday.
According to the Texas Tribune, these changes would impact reading and social studies classes. On Thursday morning the majority-Republican Texas State Board of Education granted preliminary approval for the social studies changes and earlier this week it approved a mandatory reading list for all public schools that includes Christian stories.
That reading list requires Bible material be taught to children 6 years old up to young adults preparing to receive their diplomas. It includes about Adam and Eve, the eight Beatitudes and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
It’s not the first time that Texas has brought Christianity into classrooms. Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld S.B. 10, a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom across the state, per the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a piece about Texas education published by the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University last summer, Daniel R. Brockman noted that religious content in Texas and nationwide has “largely been restricted to middle and high school social studies courses.”
Brockman said Bible-infused curriculum “raises significant concerns for the nation’s long tradition of church-state separation.”
While the conservative Republican leaders and activists in Texas champion the new curriculum, according to the Texas Tribune, Democrats and people from other religious backgrounds have criticized the material. Pew Research Center data shows that, as of 2024, a 67% majority of Texans identified as Christian. However, Texas also has the fifth largest Muslim population in the U.S., per World Population Data.
“Republican leaders across the state often depict Islam as a violent religion they view as incompatible with their conservative Christian American values,” said the Texas tribune. “During the board’s April meetings, the board eliminated a social studies standard that would have required students to learn about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy.”
According to the outlet, Muslims have spent months denouncing such Islamophobia at State Board of Education meetings. Ruth Nasrullah, a Muslim speaker, told board members that the “proposed standards actually defy the Constitution and highlight only one group of Americans as the founders who built this country to the exclusion of others – both in the past and in the present.”
Hundreds of teachers, students and community members have attended the meetings just this week. One person with a Confederate flag was asked to leave the meeting for interrupting the proceedings.
Changes to the social studies curriculum were guided by a panel of nine advisers, the Texas Tribune reported. It said almost all of the panelists “hold no Texas K-12 classroom experience and several of whom are either conservative activists or closely affiliated with them,” and Democrats said their input was not taken into account.
The Texas Tribune said the changes would be a “dramatic transformation in how Texas schools have long administered lessons on history, geography, economics and government,” and that the current sixth-grade world cultures course would be axed. Overall, it de-emphasizes world history outside of European tradition and dedicates more focus to Texas and the U.S.
Some of these changes include a description of interment of Japanese Americans during World War II as “contributions” to the U.S. military effort. High School curriculum regarding Civil Rights leaders did not include Martin Luther King Jr.
There were also structural criticisms regarding the proposed changes. English teachers noted many of the books on the reading list don’t align with what Texas requires them to teach and other educators criticized the social studies proposal for prioritizing “memorization over critical thinking and simplification over accuracy,” as well as factual errors. Educators voiced concern that the changes would make Texas students ill-equipped for work or further studies post-graduation.
“Our public schools should be focused on equipping students with the education and skills they need to succeed beyond grade school whether it's pursuing a higher education or entering the workforce. The teaching of religious doctrine should stay in our places of worship where it belongs,” said Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa in a Nov. 22 statement.
