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Updated January 29

The Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday delayed an initial vote on a proposed required reading list that includes several Bible passages, including some featured in the controversial, state-approved Bluebonnet reading program that some districts have adopted.

Members of the public who spoke on the issue were overwhelmingly opposed to the state’s proposed list, citing a lack of diverse authors and the religious texts among the reasons.

“What I see is an overemphasis on the Christian tradition without providing the kind of contextualization and analysis that religious texts require,” said Steven Mintz, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

In April, the board will discuss both Commissioner Mike Morath’s聽proposed聽list and an alternative, shorter list offered by Board Member Will Hickman. His list also includes some biblical texts, including the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Prodigal Son and the story of the tower of Babel.

“These are common stories that are, what I would say, part of cultural literacy,” he said.

When Texas approved a new reading curriculum that features Bible stories in 2024, education Commissioner Mike Morath told districts they could adopt it, reject it or even adapt it to their own local needs.

But a proposed statewide reading list, which relies on some of the same biblical lessons, would not be optional.

The selections, part of a longer list that also features scripture passages for and students, include Jesus鈥� parable of the Prodigal Son for first graders and a third grade text on the Apostle Paul鈥檚 conversion to Christianity. Those are among the stories that the agency published from the Bluebonnet reading curriculum, a spokesman said.

The proposed reading list, which includes classics from Shakespeare and Poe and the writings of historical figures, is scheduled for a preliminary vote by the Texas State Board of Education Wednesday.

One of the criticisms of the religious lessons in Bluebonnet is that they largely present an evangelical Christian perspective 鈥� an attribute the reading list shares, said David Brockman, a religion and public policy scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

鈥淎s with the Bluebonnet curriculum, this one-sided focus on the Bible conveys, intentionally or unintentionally, the message that the biblical tradition is more important and more worthy of attention than other religions,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his message in turn threatens to turn students, parents, and teachers who are not Christians or Jews into outsiders in their own public schools.鈥� 

The state board narrowly approved the reading program in late 2024 after months of debate between Christian conservatives and those who argue that it emphasizes Christianity over other religions and could be used to proselytize elementary school children. The curriculum is one of several ways the state has tried to heighten students鈥� exposure to the Bible, knowledge that Morath says will improve overall reading performance. Bluebonnet, and now the reading list, have received praise from those advocating for a classical curriculum focused on Western culture. 

鈥淭his is the revolution America needs,鈥� Jeremy Wayne Tate, founder of the Classical Learning Test, an SAT and ACT alternative, . 

Because of student mobility, there is a need for a 鈥渃ommon literary canon,鈥� according to . 鈥淲hen students switch schools, they will often read the same text twice or skip a text entirely due to local grade level selection differences.鈥�

A requirement that the state include 鈥渞eligious literature,鈥� in the curriculum has been for years. Some districts met that standard by offering standalone elective courses on the Old and New Testaments in high school. In last fall, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state board could also comply by integrating religious topics into other subjects, like language arts. 

The reading list would include a kindergarten passage on the Golden Rule, which emphasizes Jesus鈥� Sermon on the Mount, where he instructed followers to 鈥渄o unto others as you would have done unto you.鈥� After a backlash, the state added references to similar lessons from other faiths. In first grade, there鈥檚 a book on America鈥檚 symbols, which also highlights connections to scripture.

鈥楶arents have every right鈥� 

Most districts in the state didn鈥檛 rush to adopt the curriculum, despite incentives from the state of up to $60 per student. A state database last summer showed that fewer than 200 of the state鈥檚 more than 1,200 districts and charters had ordered the reading materials, many of them smaller districts. Others adopted the program but discarded the religion-related lessons. 

In a , the Texas Freedom Network, which has been critical of including Bible lessons in the curriculum, showed that just 17 of the state鈥檚 100 largest districts adopted it and were often slow to order the materials. The Fort Worth schools, now under state takeover, will begin implementing it this fall. 

Since last fall, the 72,000-student Conroe district, near Houston, has been fielding requests from parents to opt their children out of some of the biblical material. Parents are required to submit a request in writing to a teacher or school administrator, but officials told 蜜桃影视 that they鈥檙e not keeping track of how many requests they’ve received. Last fall, one parent told board members that creating alternate lessons is adding to teachers鈥� workload. 

鈥淧arents have every right to opt their children out of this,鈥� Destinee Milton, who has a second grader and a fifth grader in the district, . Because the religious material is part of the same book as the rest of the lessons, 鈥渢eachers are now required to spend their planning time鈥� pasting in alternate content.

Mark Brooks, whose third grader attends Colin Powell Elementary in Conroe, asked that she be excused from lessons on Christianity and its influence on the Roman Empire. 

鈥淚 don’t think religion belongs in public schools,鈥� he said. But the school seemed unprepared for how to handle the request. The district didn鈥檛 reply to a request for comment.

鈥淲e asked the teacher; the teacher didn’t really know. We talked to the principal; the principal didn’t really know,鈥� he said. They eventually relocated his daughter to a separate room where she worked on a lesson about the roads that led to Rome, also part of Bluebonnet. 

Brooks said his daughter liked the alternate lesson because she finished it quickly and had more time for independent reading. He鈥檚 not opposed, he said, to brief mentions of religion in school, but described a passage on the Christian emperor Constantine crediting God with his success as a ruler as 鈥渨ay over the top.鈥�

Mark Chancey, a religious studies professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that if the board approves the reading list, it鈥檚 鈥渙nly a matter of time before parents begin to opt their children out of these lessons鈥� in districts statewide. He cited a Supreme Court ruling last year that upheld parents鈥� rights to keep their children from participating in lessons focused on LGBTQ-related story books for religious reasons. He expects parents to exercise those same rights when it comes to religious material. 

鈥淚t’s going to be classroom chaos,鈥� he said. 

Supporters of the program argue that the Bible is a foundational document that should be taught in public schools and is necessary to understand historical references and works of literature. The Supreme Court, they say, erred in 1963 when it that mandated prayer and Bible readings violated the First Amendment.

鈥淚t will be impossible for Texas students to understand settlement in America, the Revolution, the Constitution, or the rest of American and World history, let alone literature, without knowledge of the Bible,鈥� said Matthew McCormick, education director for the , a conservative think tank. 鈥淢any schools are countering what they see as favor to Christianity with what looks a lot like anti-Christian bias, but this is a disservice to the education of their students.鈥�

Survey responses from teachers, collected through a link in a Bluebonnet Facebook group, show that educators remain divided on the religious components after several months of teaching the program. 

鈥淚 am a non-Christian being forced to give sermons in class,鈥� one teacher wrote. 鈥淣o consideration was given to the rights of teachers and students of various backgrounds with this curriculum.鈥�

But another said there鈥檚 a way to teach the material without trying to influence what students think.

鈥淚f I present something as, 鈥楾his is what this group of people believe and your family can discuss what you believe at home,鈥� it鈥檚 OK,鈥� the teacher explained. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 thrilled with the additions, but I had to put myself in the mindset of 鈥業t鈥檚 a story from a religion. I鈥檓 not teaching it as fact.鈥� 鈥�

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