AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Board of Education voted Friday to allow Bible-based instruction in elementary schools as part of an optional recent curriculum that could test the boundaries between religion and public classrooms in the United States
The material, approved by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, was approved in a final 8-7 vote despite criticism that the lessons would convert teenage learners and alienate students of faiths other than Christianity . Proponents argued that the Bible was a central part of American history and that its teaching would enrich the classroom.
The vote will allow schools in Texas, home to more than 5 million public school students, to begin using the material in kindergarten through fifth grade as early as next year.
Republican lawmakers celebrated the vote, including Texas’ powerful lieutenant governor, who has promised to pass a law next year that would follow Louisiana’s lead in requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Texas’ approval “is an important step toward improving student outcomes across the state,” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted on social media.
What the material says
Schools are not required to operate the material, but those that do would receive additional funding from the state.
In the newly approved kindergarten materials, a lesson on “Helping Neighbors” instructs teachers to talk about the Golden Rule using lessons from the Bible. Additionally, teachers are instructed to explain that the Bible is “a collection of ancient texts” and that its various parts are “the core books of the Jewish and Christian religions.”
In a third-grade lesson about the first Thanksgiving, the material asks teachers to discuss how the governor of Plymouth said a prayer and gave a speech that included references to “several passages from the Christian Bible in the book of Psalms.” . Teachers are then instructed to explain to students that the book of Psalms is a collection of songs, poems, and hymns “used in both Jewish and Christian worship.”
According to Matthew Patrick Shaw, assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University, the recent curriculum would make Texas the first state to introduce Bible instruction in schools in this way. Whether the lesson plans will be viewed as constitutional remains an open question, he said.
Creating Biblical Lessons
The Texas Education Agency, which oversees public education for more than 5 million students across the state, created its own instructional materials after a law passed in 2023 by the Republican-controlled Legislature required the agency to do so. The lesson plans were released publicly this spring.
“This curriculum is neither age-appropriate nor thematically appropriate in the way it presents these Bible stories,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Children who would read the material were “simply too young to know the difference between a belief claim and a fact.”
Mary Castle, director of government relations at Texas Values, a right-wing advocacy group, said that there are “nearly 300 common sayings that actually come from the Bible” and that students “will benefit if they can understand many of them.” these references.”
A close vote
More than 100 people testified at a board meeting this week that was met with emotion from parents, teachers and advocates.
A Democrat on the board, Rebecca Bell-Metereau, said including religions in addition to Christianity in the materials was not a “reasonable attempt to change that bias.”
“It seems to me like trying to put a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” she said.
One of the board members, Leslie Recine, is a Republican who was appointed to the board a few weeks ago by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to temporarily fill a vacant seat. She voted for the curriculum. A few days after her appointment, a Democrat who ran unopposed was elected to fill the same board seat starting next year.
Bring religion into schools
Texas’ plans to integrate Bible teachings into public school curriculums are the latest attempt by Republican-controlled states to bring religion into the classroom.
In Louisiana, a law to post the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms was blocked by a federal judge earlier this month. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law in June, prompting a group of multi-faith public school parents in Louisiana to file suit.
In Oklahoma, the state’s top education official has tried to integrate the Bible into lesson plans for children in fifth through twelfth grades. A group of teachers and parents recently filed a lawsuit to stop the Republican state administrator’s plan and effort to spend $3 million to buy Bibles for public schools.
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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.
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LaFleur reported from Dallas. Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.
