Earlier this week, the Texas State Board of Education proposed a new Bible-based curriculum, optional for schools to adopt for kindergarten through fifth grade. The board is expected to take a final vote on the measure Friday.
Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, and David R. Brockman, nonresident scholar in religion and public policy at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy, are available to discuss the ongoing Republican-led initiatives in the U.S. to introduce more religious content into classrooms.
"In Texas during the 2025 legislative session, we're likely to see it move in a direction that would increase the role of religion - specifically Christianity - in public education via three principle routes: the passage of school choice legislation, which would include private religious schools; passing legislation requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments; and further efforts to deepen the adoption of curriculum referencing the Bible," said Jones, who also serves as a fellow at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
"The Bluebonnet Learning K-5 reading curriculum currently under consideration by the Texas State Board of Education marks a considerable step by Christian Right activists toward increased incorporation, and perhaps promotion, of Christianity and the Bible in public school classrooms," Brockman said. "My review of the curriculum found that the Bluebonnet instructional materials dramatically overemphasize Christianity and the Bible at the expense of other world religions students are likely to encounter in an increasingly diverse Texas and U.S. Furthermore, at some points the curriculum introduces lengthy discussions of biblical stories in ways that are pedagogically unwarranted and arguably inappropriate to young schoolchildren. In these respects, the curriculum works alongside recent legislative efforts to undermine church-state separation in public education - efforts also found in other states such as Louisiana and Oklahoma."
