Texas Mandates Bible Readings in Public Schools After Contentious Board Vote

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education voted 9–4 along party lines to require Bible stories in public school classrooms and approved a sweeping rewrite of K–8 social studies standards that minimizes racial, geographic, and cultural diversity.

Sherman, the Grayson County seat about 65 miles north of Dallas, has a population of roughly 45,000 and is the site of Texas Instruments’ $30 billion semiconductor fabrication project.

The Bible reading list, which takes effect with the 2030–31 school year, includes passages such as Adam and Eve, the Eight Beatitudes, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Students as young as age six through high school will be required to study the material, though parents may opt their children out. Students who opt out may still be tested on the content.

The board also approved major changes to social studies standards, eliminating the current sixth-grade world cultures course and shifting the focus heavily toward Texas and U.S. history. The standards removed a requirement to consider underrepresented voices, and an advisory panel’s description of the Tulsa Race Massacre as “riots” was corrected only after board intervention.

“This policy is part of a broader movement to misuse public schools to impose one narrow set of religious beliefs and indoctrinate a new generation of Americans in the lie that America is a Christian country,” said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Supporters argued the changes were long overdue. “When we teach classical literature and social studies with biblical foundations, we are not simply preserving great books,” said Dawn Hatley, a Lubbock resident who testified before the board. The standards also added a lesson on the Prophet Muhammad focusing on what the board described as military campaigns, drawing condemnation from Muslim speakers who called the standards Islamophobic and unconstitutional.

The process drew sharp criticism from Democratic board members who said their voices were excluded and the late-night voting schedule created confusion. Board chair Aaron Kinsey, a Republican, acknowledged errors were made during sessions that ran as late as 2 a.m., including a vote that temporarily removed the American Revolution from U.S. history before it was restored.

The nine-member advisory panel that drafted the standards included almost no educators with K–12 classroom experience. Several were conservative activists or affiliates of advocacy organizations. The new standards will be phased in over several years.

Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/22/texas-votes-bible-history-lessons-public-schools/