AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Education Agency on Tuesday unveiled a recent, Bible-based curriculum that would be optional for schools in kindergarten through fifth grade. This is one of the latest Republican-led efforts in the US to integrate more religious education into classrooms.
The vote brings the Texas State Board of Education one step closer to signing off on the so-called “bluebonnet” textbook, which drew hours of often emotional testimony from school teachers and parents earlier this week.
The board is expected to hold a final vote on the measure Friday.
The curriculum — designed by the state’s public education department — would allow teachings from the Bible like the Golden Rule and lessons from books like Genesis to be brought into classrooms. Under the plan, it would be optional for schools to adopt the curriculum, although they would receive additional funding if they did.
Educators, parents and advocates weighed in Monday at the State Board of Education’s final meeting of the year, where many opponents argued that the proposal’s emphasis on Christian teachings would alienate students of other faiths. Proponents said it would provide students with a more holistic educational foundation.
Educator Megan Tessler testified Monday that the plan conflicts with the public school’s mission.
“This curriculum does not meet the standard of an honest, secular curriculum,” Tessler said. “Public schools are meant to educate, not indoctrinate.”
Others strongly supported the idea.
“Parents and teachers want a return to excellence,” Cindy Asmussen said in her testimony Monday. “Stories and concepts in the Bible have been around for hundreds of years,” and that is a central part of classical learning, she said.
Religious experts and the Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning watchdog group that monitors the state’s education department, said the curriculum proposal focuses too much on Christianity and also dances around the history of slavery.
The program was developed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year after a law was passed that mandated it create its own free textbook. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has publicly supported the recent materials.
Republican lawmakers in Texas have also proposed displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms and are likely to revisit the issue next year.
The proposal to integrate religious education into Texas public schools mirrors similar efforts across the country that are also drawing legal challenges.
In Oklahoma, state officials are trying to incorporate the Bible into public school curriculum. But a group of student parents, teachers and others recently filed a lawsuit to stop Oklahoma’s top education official from implementing the plan intended for students in grades 5-12. The Oklahoma Supreme Court lawsuit also asks the court to stop the plan. The Republican state administrator has stopped spending $3 million on buying Bibles to support the plan.
In Louisiana, a recent state law required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public classrooms, but a federal judge recently struck down that requirement. U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge said last week that the Louisiana law had an “apparently religious” purpose and rejected state officials’ claims that the government could order the Ten Commandments to be posted because they are for the foundation is of historical importance under US law. Its statement noted that no other fundamental documents – including the Constitution or the Bill of Rights – may be made public.
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Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
