Michael Carlis
The Texas House Public Education Committee met Monday to discuss, among other things, the benefits of school vouchers.
AUSTIN — A new Texas law would allow public school teachers to avoid prosecution for violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath testified before state lawmakers on Monday.
The revelation came during a tense meeting of the Texas House Public Education Committee, which met to hold a hearing on new school vouchers, as well as new lesson plans and programs for Texas public schools.
During the hearing, state Assemblyman James Talarico, an Austin-area Democrat, grilled Moraes about the new educational materials revamped under House Bill 1605.
HB 1605, passed by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature last year, was intended to provide teachers with state-certified lesson plans and make the materials available to parents through an online portal, but critics have charged that evangelical Christians are using the bill to insert Christian-centered lessons into the approved classes.
Texas bought its elementary school reading curriculum from a national publisher last year, and a “small group” from the Texas Education Agency was tasked with removing large sections about other religions, including all references to Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and the Muslim prophet Muhammad, Talarico said. The removed material was replaced with stories from the Bible, he added.
Morath examined Talarico’s claims in his testimony before the committee.
The new lesson plans were released four days after the Texas Republican Party passed a platform calling on the Texas Legislature and State Board of Education to mandate Bible lessons, but Morath argues the timing was coincidental.
“Are you concerned that if Texas public school teachers use this new state curriculum, they will violate church and state by teaching Bible stories in public schools?” Talarico asked Moras, to which Moras shook his head in disagreement.
“So why does the bill, at the bottom of page 5, explicitly give teachers who use this new curriculum immunity from charges of violating the separation of church and state clause of the United States Constitution?” Moras deflected Talarico’s question, saying he didn’t understand it.
If the Texas Board of Education approves the new theocratic curriculum, schools that implement it in their literacy classes will receive additional state funding. It is worth noting that Texas ranks last in terms of per-student spending in public schools.
Talarico also questioned how well Texas teachers would be prepared to answer tough theological questions from students about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount, both of which are included in the new curriculum.
“When you talk about religion, when you talk about faith, when you talk about theology, you’re dealing with fire,” said Talarico, who is also a student at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin. “These are serious topics. These are the most serious topics in our lives. So to me, this seems not only reckless, but potentially very harmful to students, Christian or not.”
Still, Republican state Rep. Matt Schafer, who also sits on the House Public Education Committee, said he doesn’t have a problem with the proposed lesson plans.
“The major world religions have not had an equal influence on the founding belief systems of our country,” said Schafer, who represents the Tyler area. “I don’t think we should be ashamed to mention the name of Jesus in our curriculum or distance ourselves from the role of Christianity in the development of our country and Western civilization.”
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