Texas school board approves optional curriculum that incorporates Bible lessons for K-5 classes

Public schools in Texas now have the option to use a new, state-written curriculum infused with Bible stories after the state’s school board voted in favour of the material on Friday.

A slim majority of the board’s 15 members – eight to seven – voted to keep the Bluebonnet Learning material on a list of K-5 reading and English language arts materials for potential use in the 2025-26 school year.

The material was developed by the Texas Education Agency, a state body overseeing public school education, headed by Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath.

Critics of the curriculum argue it heavily favors Christianity over other faiths. Some have suggested the teachings violate the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Notably, Texas has independent school districts, meaning each district decides what is taught in classrooms. Bluebonnet Learning materials will be part of a menu of curriculums available for school districts to use.

While they are not required to use the new materials, adopting the state-developed open education resource can earn schools US$40 per student annually. An additional US$20 would be provided per student for printing costs.

Four Democrats and three Republicans opposed the inclusion of the curriculum during a preliminary vote on Tuesday, including Pam Little, the Republican vice chair of the board, who said the materials are too rigorous for young students. Little voted against the material on Friday as well.

Staci Childs, a member of the board who voted against Bluebonnet, told CNN Friday that although the curriculum is optional, she expects most districts will adopt it given the “huge financial implications” of the incentive.

Still, she expects the curriculum will be challenged “tremendously” in court.

“I represent the most diverse place in Texas,” Childs, whose district includes Houston, said. “I represent Muslims, people of the Sikh faith, right? People that even don’t have a faith, that are agnostic. These people should see themselves reflected in the material just as much as a Christian.”

The approval of the optional curriculum drew immediate backlash from the ACLU of Texas.

“Bluebonnet curriculum flagrantly disregards religious freedom, a cornerstone of our nation since its founding,” Caro Achar, the civil rights organization’s engagement coordinator for free speech, told CNN after the vote. “The same politicians censoring what students can read now want to impose state-sponsored religion onto our public schools. We urge districts to reject this optional curriculum and uphold a public school education that honors the religious diversity and constitutional rights of Texas students.”

In another indication of potential legal challenges, the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State said their “attorneys are standing by and ready to defend their religious freedom.”

“Texas’ new Bible-infused elementary curriculum is part of the nationwide effort by Christian Nationalists to impose their religious beliefs on public school students,” said Rachel Laser, the organization’s president and CEO. “Families, not politicians or public school officials, should decide if, when and how their children engage with religion.”

Texas is among several Republican-led states that have passed legislature that incorporates Christianity in public schools, inviting outrage and lawsuits: A federal judge this month temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom by the new year. In Oklahoma, teachers and parents filed a lawsuit to stop the state’s top education official from enforcing a similar mandate.

Last year, Texas allowed public schools to hire uncertified religious chaplans as counselors, and the legislature has pushed to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

For Sharyn Vane, an opponent of the Bluebonnet curriculum, it’s the job of parents to teach their children about religion — not public schools.

Vane told CNN Friday, “As a Jewish parent, of course, we taught our kids our faith at home, and I think no matter your faith, the parents are the ones who need to be teaching those lessons.”

She said, while the Supreme Court has ruled that public schools can teach the Bible in an academic context, “this curriculum is not that.”

“This curriculum has explicit biblical instruction for even kindergartners,” Vane said.

The curriculum’s focus on Christianity excludes the other religious traditions found across Texas, Vane added. “It would be great if all of the many religions represented in Texas and, of course, across the country, were reflected in some way, shape or form, again, in appropriate ways,” she said.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has voiced his support for the state-written curriculum, which he said allows “students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature, and religion on pivotal events like the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement, and the American Revolution,” according to a news release.

The state board revised the materials, according to the Texas Education Agency, after the versions proposed in May faced heavy criticism.

A look at the controversial curriculum

Under the curriculum, a kindergarten lesson about the “Golden Rule” would prompt instructors to teach students about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from the Bible’s New Testament; the teacher guide for that lesson also mentions Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and other faiths. Another kindergarten unit about appreciation would primarily focus on the Bible’s Book of Genesis and artworks inspired by it.

A first grade unit on “sharing stories” would teach “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” from the New Testament.

The third grade unit on ancient Rome would feature a section dedicated to the life of Jesus and Christianity in the Roman Empire. And a poetry unit for fifth graders would include a psalm from the Old Testament taught alongside poems from Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. No other texts from religious books would be included in the unit.

The Texas Education Agency says the lessons “were developed using the best evidence from cognitive science to ensure teachers have access to quality, on-grade-level materials that enable teachers to focus on delivering the highest-quality instruction and providing differentiated supports to students,” a May news release stated.

On Monday, more than 100 people testified for and against the materials before the Texas school board for more than seven hours. Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University and a Sunday school teacher, described the teachings as “fundamentally flawed” and they “make numerous claims that are erroneous, made up, or just plain strange.”

The lessons included in the curriculum “strongly privilege” Christianity over other faiths, Chancey told CNN Wednesday.

“There are more lessons about the Christian Bible than about any other religious text,” Chancey said. “There are more lessons about Jesus than about any other religious figure.”

This is unfortunate, he added, because educators need to teach about religion to provide context around much of literature, history and art.

“Religious literacy is an important part of cultural literacy and students need to know about religion to function in a religiously diverse democracy,” Chancey told CNN. Very young children may also take these biblical tales literally, potentially causing confusion, he added.

Barbara Baruch, who is Jewish, testified in opposition to the materials on Monday, saying, “I believe my grandkids should share our family’s religion. I need help stopping the government from teaching them to be Christians.”

She urged officials: “Don’t let the government interfere with anyone’s religious choice.”

‘Religion has a place in American society’

The curriculum has also drawn criticism from Texas AFT, a union representing over 60,000 public school educators and support staff across the state. The union said in a news release the materials violate the separation of church and state.

Similarly, the Texas Freedom Network – a grassroots organization advocating for religious freedom, individual liberties and public education – says the curriculum “verges on Christian proselytism insofar as its extensive, lopsided coverage of Christianity and the Bible suggests that this is the only religious tradition of any importance,” in a report analyzing the materials.

The curriculum’s supporters, meanwhile, have argued that it’s important for Americans to understand religion. A supporter of the teachings testified Monday that the Bluebonnet lessons are “grade level-appropriate instructional materials that include contextually relevant religious topics from a wide range of faiths.”

“It has always been understood that religion has a place in American civic society,” Jonathan Covey, policy director at conservative group Texas Values, said.

Another supporter of the materials, Glenn Melvin, argued the Bluebonnet materials do not violate the First Amendment.

“Just reading some of the passages from the Bible will not cause someone to convert, as many Biblical scholars are not themselves Christian,” Melvin said.

The majority of Texans are Christian: 23.5 per cent are evangelical Protestant, 20.3 per cent Catholic, and 4.5 per cent mainline Protestant, according to 2020 data from the Association of Religion Data Archives, which sources data from congregations across the country. Around 1.1 per cent of Texans belong to Muslim congregations and 0.2 per cent to Jewish congregations, according to the association.

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CNN’s Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.