Houston ISD Board of Managers member Marty Goossen speaks during a Houston ISD Board of Managers meeting at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Houston ISD Board of Managers member Angela Lemond Flowers speaks during a Houston ISD Board of Managers meeting at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Houston ISD Board of Managers member Lauren Gore during a Houston ISD Board of Managers meeting at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Houston ISD’s state-appointed board of managers voted unanimously Thursday to adopt the state-developed Bluebonnet curriculum, which has drawn controversy for its inclusion of Bible teachings but could bring the district millions in new state funding.
The move to adopt the state’s curriculum comes after the district invested heavily in developing its own instructional materials through its 120-person curriculum department.
Bluebonnet is a suite of state-owned free instructional materials and comes with extra financial incentives. HISD expects to receive $3.3 million from the state by adopting the curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grades.
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HISD is the latest district to adopt the materials. One-third of Texas school districts have ordered the Bible-infused lesson plans, and 20 of those 367 districts are in the Houston area, according to data obtained at the start of the 2025-26 school year.
Districts that choose from the state’s approved list of high-quality instructional materials can receive an extra $40 per enrolled student. And if a district adopts Bluebonnet, they receive an extra $20 for printing the materials, totaling $60 per student. But Bluebonnet materials are designed to be printed, and, in some cases, the $60-per-student incentive did not cover the full printing cost.
“Bluebonnet Learning materials were developed by the Texas Education Agency to align with state standards, including updated reading selections and vocabulary that students may encounter on future state assessments,” HISD wrote in a statement. “HISD Bluebonnet would incorporate state-recommended texts and vocabulary while allowing the District to customize implementation to meet the needs of Houston students. Adoption would provide HISD with approximately $3.3 million in additional state funding to purchase instructional materials and classroom resources.”
Bluebonnet for K-5 reading and math
The district plans to use Bluebonnet English and Spanish reading and language arts materials and math materials for kindergarten through fifth grade, along with other materials including district-developed curriculum.
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Experts say the Bluebonnet reading curriculum places an outsized emphasis on Christianity and puts teachers in a difficult situation of being asked questions about religion that they may not know how to answer. Some districts have avoided adopting Bluebonnet because of the printing requirement or because, they said, the materials were not rigorous enough.
Members of Houston’s Jewish community are “incensed at what’s about to happen,” said Joshua Fixler, a rabbi and public school parent.
“I’ve been on the phone and on text message all day with parents from the Jewish community who are furious,” Fixler said. “Furious that HISD is considering this, furious that they did it in a way that doesn’t give us opportunity for public comment. Who are writing emails to the members of the Board of Managers, and who are planning to show up at tonight’s meeting in protest, even if it’s too late to sign up to testify.”
Fixler said there’s a difference between teaching about religion and teaching religion.
“It is appropriate to talk about religion in age-appropriate ways, mostly with older students, high school students, in the context of teaching about world religions,” Fixler said, adding that he does not believe the solution is to supplement the Christian text with other texts. “Because I don’t believe that it’s possible to create a curriculum, from this curriculum, that would truly be reflective of the diversity of religious perspectives that are in our public schools.”
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He said he has heard discussions in other districts about removing some of “the problematic passages.”
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“But there are overtly problematic passages, and there are subtly problematic passages. And I think it would be impossible for HISD to take this curriculum and turn it into something that isn’t a violation of students’ religious liberties,” Fixler said.
Community members raise concerns
Priscilla Midani, a parent of a rising first grader at Travis Elementary, said parents at the school are concerned about the adoption of Bluebonnet materials on the grounds of separation of church and state.
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“We just stand for all children, and we want their right to a fair and neutral education to be granted,” Midani said.
Midani also pointed to errors throughout the curriculum. Texas will pay up to $8.4 million to fix thousands of errors in Bluebonnet, and the state signed a contract in May to cover the replacement and disposal of materials including books, worksheets and teacher guides after identifying more than 4,200 errors, ranging from missing commas to incorrect answer keys and factual errors.
“The lack of transparency and bad timing” of the vote also sparked concern, Midani said. Many families are away for the summer. The district will also consider approving a $2 billion budget five days before the end of the fiscal year and five contracts that would outsource day-to-day operations at several district schools.
Jewish Federation of Greater Houston President and CEO Renée Wizig-Barrios said the group “is extremely concerned about tonight’s vote on the proposed Bluebonnet Curriculum that is being held without standard community notice and opportunity for public comment.”
“Students of all faiths have the right to a secular public education, and each family should be able to individually determine how faith is taught to their children,” Wizig-Barrios said in a statement. “The Bluebonnet Curriculum is problematic for many reasons, and it is reckless for the HISD Board of Managers to shirk their responsibility to engage in meaningful community dialogue about this important decision.”
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Transition plan
HISD estimated that about 58,400 students will use Bluebonnet English reading curriculum and another 21,773 students will use Bluebonnet Spanish reading curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade on a regular basis, according to a submission to certify instructional materials to the state. It estimated that about 58,400 students will regularly use Bluebonnet math.
HISD said in its Bluebonnet transition plan that it will target 80% favorable survey responses from teachers and undefined stakeholders regarding curriculum implementation and support; 95% teacher participation rate in planning and what’s called internalizing Bluebonnet lessons; and “measurable improvement” on district and state tests.
HISD will continue to use several professional learning requirements and practices, including on-the-spot coaching and days to practice teaching lessons, according to its Bluebonnet transition plan.
Correction, June 25, 2026: This article was updated to correct the name of the organization Renée Wizig-Barrios leads. It is the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.