Texas education leaders unveil Bible-infused curriculum

An Elementary school curriculum proposed this week would infuse new state reading and language arts lessons with teachings on the Bible, marking the latest push by Texas Republicans to put more Christianity in public schools.

The Texas Education Agency released thousands of pages of educational materials this week. They have been made available for public viewing and feedback and, if approved by the State Board of Education in November, will be available for public schools to roll out in August of 2025. Districts will have the option of whether to use the materials, but will be incentivized to do so with up to $60 per student in additional funding.

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said the materials are based on extensive cognitive science research and will help improve students’ reading and math scores. In 2019, less than half of students met grade-level standards for reading, and that percentage has declined since the pandemic, based on state standardized test scores.

The new materials have prompted criticism, though. The education news site The 74 first reported the redesign on Wednesday and included excerpts of lesson plans with biblical references. They also reported that a New York-based curriculum vendor, Amplify, opted out of bidding on a contract after the state sought to insert biblical materials, but not other religious texts, into the curriculum. The state education agency rejected those claims, saying multiple religions are included throughout the curriculum. Because of Texas' size, textbooks that are developed for its schools are often used in other states.

Morath told The Texas Tribune on Thursday that religious materials are a “small piece of the content pie.” His office could not quantify what percentage of each grade’s textbook would be devoted to biblical references. The Tribune has not reviewed all materials, which include the state-designed textbooks as well as proposals from 25 different vendors.

However, an initial review of the proposed state textbooks shows that religious materials feature prominently, with texts sourced from the Bible as the most heavily used.

“It’s a tiny fraction of the overall fraction — it’s just where it makes sense to do that,” Morath said. “It’s a very small but appropriate fraction.”

The textbooks mark a shift toward a “classical, broad-based liberal arts education,” from a more skills-based curriculum, Morath said.