Texas is on the verge of requiring its more than 5 million public school students to study Bible stories, as the state emerges as a leader in a national conservative effort to infuse Christian teachings into American classrooms.
The majority-Republican Texas State Board of Education is expected to vote Friday to approve a proposal that would establish biblical stories and Bible verses – among other works – as required reading for its K-12 English and literature curriculum.
Going beyond a 2023 law that required at least one Texas State Board of Education approved literary work be taught in each grade level, the new proposal would require multiple titles for each grade, and that each one be read “in its entirety.”
Required literature lists in general, two experts told The Associated Press, may be a first for any state.
Many Texas students are already familiar with at least some Christian teachings: The state last year became the largest state to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, a law recently upheld in federal court.
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The new list of required titles would include a picture-book adaptation of the David and Goliath story for elementary students and Bible passages about Adam and Eve for older students, among other references, according to a proposed list online.
At the same meeting, the school board will take up a vote to rewrite the state’s social studies curriculum, focusing more on Texas and US history and deemphasizing some teachings about global history and cultures. The change would eliminate a sixth grade “World Cultures” course and significantly expand lessons on communism.
The proposals, which would go into effect in 2030, have sharply divided teachers, parents and community members — hundreds of whom appeared before the school board this week to voice their concern and enthusiasm.
Supporters argue the Bible should be studied as an essential literary text that can help students understand Western history and the founding of the US. One policy group has celebrated it as the “final battle” in an effort to purge Texas schools of lessons on race and history that they say divides students and criticizes America’s founders.
However, those who oppose the changes say the mandatory reading list favors Christianity over other religions and violates the constitutionally protected separation between church and state. The teachings may also infringe on parents’ ability to lead their children’s religious education, they say, particularly in non-Christian households.
In recent years, Texas leaders have broadly eliminated studies of racial and cultural diversity while expanding the schools’ abilities to introduce Christianity to students.
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In 2023, the state became the first to allow chaplains to counsel students, and the following year approved a measure that offered more funding to schools that teach an optional Bible-infused elementary school curriculum. The state’s education code already requires K-12 schools to teach “religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature.”
As students learn US history, supporters of the proposed curriculum argue Christian texts should be inseparable from lessons on the nation’s founding.
“We don’t have to incorporate every religious belief in our history or in our literary works, because our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values,” said Susan Perez, founder of a Christian parent advocacy group, Citizens for Education Reform, in a school board meeting Monday.
Perez pointed out Christian references in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, which was signed in “the Year of Our Lord” 1787.
If passed, third-grade students would read the story, “ROAR! – Daniel and the Lion’s Den,” alongside titles like “Stuart Little” and “Charlotte’s Web,” according to the proposed lists online.
As students become more advanced in reading level, they would be introduced to passages directly from the Bible. Sixth-grade students would learn “The Shepherd’s Psalm” from the Book of Psalms alongside religious writings from George Washington and poems by Langston Hughes and Robert Frost.
Several community members have expressed concerns the plan would infringe on their autonomy as parents to oversee their children’s religious education.
Kimmie Fink, the mother of an active-duty military family stationed in Texas, told the board, “I would like to believe that my children’s constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom rights will remain intact wherever we are stationed.”
“Is this not the case in Texas, a state that champions parents’ rights? In Texas, parents have the fundamental legal right to direct the moral and religious upbringing of their children without state interference. The proposed literary works trample on this right,” Fink added.
Some proponents of the curriculum changes dispute arguments that children will be explicitly taught religion, saying the Biblical passages and stories will be taught in the context of world history.
“They are being used as literary and historical content rather than religious instruction,” former public school administrator Nancy Barker told the board. “The Bible references will provide students with the background knowledge you will need to understand the books, the speeches, poems and important documents that have shaped our civilization.”
Board member Tiffany Clark, a Christian and Democrat who represents parts of Dallas-Forth Worth, has vocally opposed the proposed curriculum. Clark said she and some of her Christian constituents believe “Bible lessons should be taught on Sundays.”
“Not all of us believe the same,” Clark said, noting that Christian denominations reference different translations of the Bible and at times differ in their interpretations.
The proposed curriculum mandates specific Bible translations, including the King James Bible, which is widely used by Protestant and Evangelical churches but is avoided by the Roman Catholic Church.
Clark also says she fears the emphasis on Christian texts would alienate children who come from other religious backgrounds and prevent their parents from solely shaping their religious education. About a third of adults in Texas identify as non-Christian, according to Pew Research Center surveys from 2023-2024.
Though parents would have the option to opt their children out of some of the required teachings, Clark said, missing lessons could impact students’ test scores. Because the texts would be part of the curriculum, they could be included on standardized testing, potentially impacting the school district’s test record if students do not perform well.
One mother who spoke before the school board Monday in support of the proposal said she believes Texas has always stood for “giving our kids the knowledge they need to succeed.”
“Keeping biblical references in our social studies standards isn’t about pushing my religion, it’s about giving our students a complete education here and making sure they understand the history,” the mother said.
However, teachers may be put in a position to teach religious texts they are not familiar or comfortable with, said Rabbi Joshua Fixler with Congregation Emanu El in Houston.
“This list is full of Christian texts that are inappropriate for public school classrooms. As a rabbi and a parent of Jewish kids, I think it is vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. This list will force teachers to cross that line,” Fixler said.
If put into effect, the mandated literature curriculum could be a first of its kind, according to Antero Garcia, president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a Stanford University education professor.
Garcia told the AP he doesn’t know of any other state with a similar list. Educators at the district and school levels are generally able to choose what texts their students will read, he said.
Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, told the AP she believes such a mandated reading list would be unique to Texas.
“I think there’s lots of state lists that exist that are like advised readings, suggested readings,” she told the AP.
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