In November 2024, the Texas Board of Education approved a new optional set of learning materials, known as Bluebonnet Learning. The materials, which cover the English curriculum for kindergarten through 5th grade, are widely criticized for their inclusion of Bible excerpts and the monetary incentive that accompanies their adoption.
The Houston Chronicle compiled a list of all schools and districts that have ordered Bluebonnet Learning, including dozens in North Texas. Some of those are set to receive an additional million dollars to spend; however, any extra funds must be spent on State Board of Education-approved materials.
School districts that adopt the materials receive $40 per student and receive online versions of the materials at no cost. If a school orders printed versions, the district must cover the associated printing costs. However, the Texas Education Agency offers an additional $20 per student to help with affordability, totaling $60 per student.
“You have a carrot being hung for $60 at a time when funding for public education has been so limited, what is to keep administrators who are well-intentioned from taking that carrot just so they can get the additional $60?” State Board of Education member Marisa Perez-Diaz said to the Chronicle. “That’s a really unfair conundrum that this legislation has put our districts in.”
The monetary incentivization of the learning materials, especially as public school districts grapple with budgetary deficits and barely increasing student allotments, has been called “bribery.” The offer is hard to refuse, although many school districts have held out, including the Dallas Independent School District and several nearby districts, but not all.
If Dallas ISD were to adopt the materials and order the printed copies, it would receive an additional $8,340,000. The district began the school year with a $187 million budget deficit, which it has significantly reduced; however, it is still tens of millions of dollars under a break-even point.
Charter schools are also eligible to purchase the materials and receive the additional funding. Cityscape Schools, Gateway Charter Academy, Nova Academy, Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy and St. Anthony School are the only schools within Dallas proper to adopt the new materials. Public charter schools are required by law to remain secular.
Most of the districts that have chosen to receive the new learning materials are small. A grand total of 367 districts have placed orders for the materials. East Texas has the largest concentration of districts set to receive Bluebonnet Learning, but North Texas has a fair share.
Last month, Fort Worth became the second-largest school district to adopt the materials, earning roughly $2.4 million after deducting the printing cost. The district is operating under a significant budget deficit and is facing a potential takeover, led by the TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, following consecutive poor ratings at one particular school campus.
“If there are resources that not only help my teachers, my parents and my students, then I need to take advantage of that,” FWISD Superintendent Karen Molinar said at the board meeting when the materials were voted on.
Despite being supported by the superintendent, who is potentially facing removal, the nine-person district board of education did not unanimously support the materials.
“All that is saying is state-sanctioned indoctrination,” one of the three nay voters, Trustee Quinton Phillips, said at the board meeting at the end of September.
The largest district to adopt the materials, and one of the largest, was Conroe ISD, outside of Houston. But large district adoption is generally unpopular, and most of the North Texas districts that have done so have fewer than 2,000 students.
Here’s a list of all schools and districts in North Texas that have adopted Bluebonnet Learning and how much they’ll make doing it.
Bonham ISD
Student Population: 1,970
Monetary Incentive: $118,200
Bridgeway Preparatory Academy, Farmers Branch
Student Population: 125
Monetary Incentive: $7,500
Burleson ISD
Student Population: 12,600
Monetary Incentive: $756,000
Callisburg ISD
Student Population: 1,200
Monetary Incentive: $72,000
Campbell ISD
Student Population: 280
Monetary Incentive: $16,800
Celeste ISD
Student Population: 520
Monetary Incentive: $31,200
Cityscape Schools, Dallas
Student Population: 1,200
Monetary Incentive: $72,000
Collinsville ISD
Student Population: 570
Monetary Incentive: $34,200
Commerce ISD
Student Population: 1,500
Monetary Incentive: $90,000
Crowley ISD
Student Population: 17,000
Monetary Incentive: $1,020,000
Duncanville ISD
Student Population: 11,500
Monetary Incentive: $690,000
Education Center International Academy, Sunnyvale
Student Population: 440
Monetary Incentive: $2,640
Garner ISD
Student Population: 365
Monetary Incentive: $21,900
Gateway Charter Academy, Dallas
Student Population: 600
Monetary Incentive: $36,000
Irving ISD
Student Population: 33,000
Monetary Incentive: $1,980,000
Italy ISD
Student Population: 650
Monetary Incentive: $39,000
Krum ISD
Student Population: 2,200
Monetary Incentive: $132,000
Lake Worth ISD
Student Population: 3,200
Monetary Incentive: $192,000
Legacy Preparatory, Mesquite and Plano
Student Population: 1,190
Monetary Incentive: 71,400
Milford ISD
Student Population: 200+
Monetary Incentive: $12,000
Newman International Academy of Arlington
Student Population: 2,850
Monetary Incentive: $171,000
Nova Academy, Dallas and Cedar Hill
Student Population: 800+
Monetary Incentive: $48,000
Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy, Dallas and Mesquite
Student Population: 2,600
Monetary Incentive: $156,000
Pottsboro ISD
Student Population: 1,400
Monetary Incentive: $84,000
S and S Consolidated ISD
Student Population: 990
Monetary Incentive: $59,400
Springtown ISD
Student Population: 4,150
Monetary Incentive: $249,000
St Anthony School, Dallas
Student Population: 120
Monetary Incentive: $7,200
Stephenville ISD
Student Population: 3,600
Monetary Incentive: $216,000
Three Way ISD
Student Population: 205
Monetary Incentive: $12,300
Student population sizes are rough estimates sourced from district and charter school websites. The monetary incentive was calculated using the entire $60 per head bonus and does not include the printing cost deductions. How much a district receives will vary depending on how it chooses to implement Bluebonnet Learning. The new resources were made available this school year, but according to the TEA, some materials are still in their pilot phase and are being delivered in batches throughout the year.