The proposed reading\u00a0list, which includes classics from Shakespeare and Poe and the writings of historical figures, is scheduled for a preliminary vote by the Texas State Board of Education Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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The Texas Education Agency is recommending that Jesus\u2019 parable of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke become required reading for first graders. (Texas Education Agency)<\/p>\n
One of the criticisms of the religious lessons in Bluebonnet is that they largely present an evangelical Christian perspective \u2014 an attribute the reading list shares, said David Brockman, a religion and public policy scholar at Rice University.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs with the Bluebonnet curriculum, this one-sided focus on the Bible conveys,\u00a0intentionally or unintentionally, the message that the biblical tradition is more important and more worthy of attention than other religions,\u201d he said. \u201cThis message in turn threatens to turn students, parents, and teachers who are not Christians or Jews into outsiders in their own public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state board narrowly approved the Bluebonnet<\/a> reading program in late 2024 after months of debate between Christian conservatives and those who argue that it emphasizes Christianity over other religions and could be used to proselytize elementary school children. The curriculum is one of several ways the state has tried to heighten students\u2019 exposure to the Bible, knowledge that Morath says will improve overall reading performance. Bluebonnet, and now the reading list, have received praise from those advocating for a classical curriculum focused on Western culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the revolution America needs,\u201d Jeremy Wayne Tate, founder of the Classical Learning Test, an SAT and ACT alternative, posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Because of student mobility, there is a need for a \u201ccommon literary canon,\u201d according to an agency document<\/a>. \u201cWhen students switch schools, they will often read the same text twice or skip a text entirely due to local grade level selection differences.\u201d<\/p>\n A requirement that the state include \u201creligious literature,\u201d in the curriculum has been on the books<\/a> for years. Some districts met that standard by offering standalone elective courses on the Old and New Testaments in high school. In an opinion<\/a> last fall, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state board could also comply by integrating religious topics into other subjects, like language arts.<\/p>\n The reading list would include a kindergarten passage on the Golden Rule, which emphasizes Jesus\u2019 Sermon on the Mount, where he instructed followers to \u201cdo unto others as you would have done unto you.\u201d After a backlash, the state added references to similar lessons from other faiths. In first grade, there\u2019s a book on America\u2019s symbols, which also highlights connections to scripture.<\/p>\n \u2018Parents have every right\u2019<\/p>\n Most districts in the state didn\u2019t rush to adopt the curriculum, despite incentives from the state of up to $60 per student. A state database<\/a> last summer showed that fewer than 200 of the state\u2019s more than 1,200 districts and charters had ordered the reading materials, many of them smaller districts. Others adopted the program but discarded the religion-related lessons.<\/p>\n In a recent report<\/a>, the Texas Freedom Network, which has been critical of including Bible lessons in the curriculum, showed that just 17 of the state\u2019s 100 largest districts adopted it and were often slow to order the materials. The Fort Worth schools, now under state takeover, will begin implementing it this fall.<\/p>\n Related<\/a><\/p>\n Texas Passed a Bible-Themed Curriculum. But Many Districts Aren\u2019t Using It<\/p>\n Since last fall, the 72,000-student Conroe district, near Houston, has been fielding requests from parents to opt their children out of some of the biblical material. Parents are required to submit a request in writing to a teacher or school administrator, but officials told The 74 that they\u2019re not keeping track of how many requests they\u2019ve received. Last fall, one parent told board members that creating alternate lessons is adding to teachers\u2019 workload.<\/p>\n \u201cParents have every right to opt their children out of this,\u201d Destinee Milton, who has a second grader and a fifth grader in the district, said at the meeting<\/a>. Because the religious material is part of the same book as the rest of the lessons, \u201cteachers are now required to spend their planning time\u201d pasting in alternate content.<\/p>\n Conroe Independent School District Superintendent David Vinson, left, is pictured with the members of the school board. (Facebook)<\/p>\n Mark Brooks, whose third grader attends Colin Powell Elementary in Conroe, asked that she be excused from lessons on Christianity and its influence on the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think religion belongs in public schools,\u201d he said. But the school seemed unprepared for how to handle the request. The district didn\u2019t reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe asked the teacher; the teacher didn\u2019t really know. We talked to the principal; the principal didn\u2019t really know,\u201d he said. They eventually relocated his daughter to a separate room where she worked on a lesson about the roads that led to Rome, also part of Bluebonnet.<\/p>\n Brooks said his daughter liked the alternate lesson because she finished it quickly and had more time for independent reading. He\u2019s not opposed, he said, to brief mentions of religion in school, but described a passage on the Christian emperor Constantine crediting God with his success as a ruler as \u201cway over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n Related<\/a><\/p>\n Exclusive: Texas Seeks to Inject Bible Stories into Elementary School Reading<\/p>\n Mark Chancey, a religious studies professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that if the board approves the reading list, it\u2019s \u201conly a matter of time before parents begin to opt their children out of these lessons\u201d in districts statewide. He cited a Supreme Court ruling<\/a> last year that upheld parents\u2019 rights to keep their children from participating in lessons focused on LGBTQ-related story books for religious reasons. He expects parents to exercise those same rights when it comes to religious material.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be classroom chaos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related<\/a><\/p>\n Supreme Court Requires Schools to Allow Students to Opt Out of LGBTQ Lessons<\/p>\n Supporters of the program argue that the Bible is a foundational document that should be taught in public schools and is necessary to understand historical references and works of literature. The Supreme Court, they say, erred in 1963 when it ruled<\/a> that mandated prayer and Bible readings violated the First Amendment.<\/p>\n![\"Conroe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a04e24bc37eadf4d327ae4a4934edfe7.jpeg\"\/)
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