The Texas State Board of Education on Friday approved a controversial Bible-inspired curriculum for public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Texas schools would not be required to use the “Bluebonnet” curriculum, which includes lessons from the New Testament as well as Genesis and Psalms, but would receive additional funding if they did.
The board’s narrow 8-7 vote marks the latest push by Republicans to incorporate Christian teachings into schools across the country. Four Democrats and three Republicans voted against using the curriculum.
Although the vote was only to add curriculum to English language arts and reading, the board is considering using the curriculum in other areas as well.
In a written statement released Nov. 15, the American Federation of Teachers of Texas said the “materials contain an unnecessary amount of unwelcome and unnecessary references to the Bible.” “These materials not only violate the separation of church and state and academic freedom in the classroom, they also violate the sanctity of the teaching profession.”
This curriculum will be used in classrooms from August 2025.
School districts can develop their own lesson plans and are not forced to adopt a curriculum, but if they do, they will receive a $40 per student stipend to purchase learning materials.
Similar efforts are underway in other Republican-majority states in the United States.
In Louisiana, a law requiring all state schools to display the Ten Commandments was temporarily blocked by a federal court following a lawsuit from a parent group.
In June, Oklahoma’s top education official ordered public schools to incorporate Bible lessons into instruction for students in grades 5 through 12. Parents, students, and teachers filed a lawsuit in the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block Bible purchases.
Just recently, the head of Oklahoma’s education authority, Superintendent Ryan Walters, distributed 500 copies of the Bible published by President-elect Donald Trump to the state for some high school classes focused on the U.S. government. announced that it had been purchased. He said these books also include the country’s other “foundational documents”: the Declaration of Independence.
Superintendent Walters also asked schools to show students a video of him praying for Trump, but some districts refused, according to media reports.
