Savion Horn watched as \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter\u201d images appeared on a screen at the front of his classroom: black-and-white photos of boys and girls, much younger than him and his classmates, first with faces framed by long hair and traditional clothing, then with their locks cut, wearing high-necked dresses and stiff button-ups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Horn, then a high school senior at Grand Prairie High School near Dallas and a descendant of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, it was his first in-depth lesson on the boarding schools where the U.S. government sent hundreds of thousands of Native American children in the 19th and 20th centuries with the goal of assimilating them and eradicating Native culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u201cThey weren\u2019t allowed to speak their own language. They weren\u2019t allowed to represent themselves with their music or art,\u201d said Horn, who was exposed to the lesson last school year through the American Indian\/Native Studies class offered at his high school. \u201cIt was very emotional to me, and it would be for anyone who actually wanted to take anything away from the class and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Indian\/Native Studies course, or AINS, was piloted in the Grand Prairie school district in 2021 following years of work by Indigenous parents and educators around the state, who drafted course materials from scratch. To build on the success of a Chicano\/Mexican American studies class the state approved in 2015, the Texas board of education had in 2018 called for the creation<\/a> of other ethnic studies classes, including Native studies. Two years later, board members certified the AINS class as an \u201cinnovative course,\u201d meaning it covered state-approved topics that fall outside of the required curriculum and other districts could adopt it.\u00a0<\/p>\n But in 2025, when the class came up for its regular five-year renewal under the process for \u201cinnovative courses,\u201d the political landscape in Texas had changed. Starting in 2021, the state had taken steps to limit instruction around issues of race, ethnicity and gender: That year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 3<\/a>, which restricts instruction on \u201ccontroversial issues\u201d and says educators should approach those topics \u201cobjectively and in a manner free from political bias.\u201d This past June, just a week before the committee met to discuss the course, the state passed SB 12<\/a>, allowing parents to review and raise objections about K-12 educational materials and prohibiting policies, activities or programs that \u201creference race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At the federal level, President Donald Trump has issued executive orders calling for the end of DEI practices in public K-12 schools and colleges. And leadership of the Texas education board had changed too, leading to more scrutiny of course content.\u00a0<\/p>\n Groups including the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas<\/a>, an organization devoted to the advancement of diverse representation in schools curricula, and Native-led nonprofits like the Society of Native Nations<\/a> lobbied for the course\u2019s survival. Four Native nations from across Texas and Oklahoma also endorsed AINS<\/a>, saying the class offered students the opportunity to understand a more complete, accurate picture of tribal histories than is typically taught in K-12 classrooms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Texas education board\u2019s June hearing, most members were supportive of the class and sympathetic to the frustrations of course organizers with the prolonged renewal process. Some board members, though, expressed concern about the course, arguing that its discussion of the role of Catholic churches in the mistreatment of students at boarding schools might shame Christian students. Another representative questioned the purpose of land acknowledgements recognizing Indigenous people as an area\u2019s original residents, suggesting that some land was traded or given to settlers or was unclaimed and that it wasn\u2019t always clear to whom it belonged.\u00a0<\/p>\n After two days of debate, the board voted 9-5 in favor of renewing the course. With a compromise to remove a passage in a reading about George Washington that the board objected to, the course will continue to operate as an innovative class for another five years. At a time when DEI is under attack around the country, supporters of the Native studies class view their success as giving hope to others who want to see similar classes created or preserved in other states.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot underscore enough how important of a win this is,\u201d said Sarah B. Shear, an associate professor of social studies and multicultural education at the University of Washington-Bothell, whose research<\/a> has found that content on Native Americans in most K-12 social studies curriculum often leaves out information on modern contributions of Indigenous people.<\/p>\n Related: What\u2019s happened since Texas killed in-state tuition for undocumented students<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n In part because of research like hers, a few other states and districts have taken similar steps to expand Native studies. In 2015, lawmakers in Washington state passed a mandate<\/a> that every school district teach tribal history, culture and government, becoming the second state to approve a Native Education for All law, after Montana in 1999. In 2025, California expanded<\/a> history lessons about the Gold Rush and Spanish colonial periods to include more Native perspectives. And in Arizona, students must encounter at least two<\/a> social studies courses \u2014 one in grade school, another in high school \u2014 that include the history of Native Americans in their state.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Texas, educators, parents and tribal members around the state came together over Zoom at the height of the pandemic to develop the course, which covers lessons relating to geography, arts and culture and the contemporary achievements of Indigenous peoples around Texas and the country. The content<\/a> includes sections about pivotal Supreme Court cases on tribal affairs, boarding schools and Stephen F. Austin\u2019s Indian extermination policies in addition to topics like mascots and Indigenous scholarship in research.<\/p>\n The course\u2019s creators \u2014 22 people from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds \u2014 held trainings on its content and teaching strategies for educators interested in adopting the class. Lanette Aguero, the Grand Prairie district\u2019s social studies coordinator, was among them. She attended an ethnic studies conference at Texas Christian University in 2019, which led her to want to bring the class to her district.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the Native American population in the 27,000-student district is quite small \u2014\u00a0only about 120<\/a> identified as Native American in 2023-24, the most recent year for which data is available \u2014 the population of Native Americans in the larger Dallas area is significant. Twelve students in Grand Prairie signed up for the class its first year, 2021, and by 2024 the class had grown to 48 students<\/a>. In 2024, two other districts, Robstown and Crowley, adopted the course as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n As one of the first teachers of the American Indian\/Native Studies class, Kimberly Rafalski, who is non-Native and a longtime social studies instructor in the Grand Prairie district, said she often felt like she learned alongside her students. Together, they walked through precontact histories and the ongoing stories of Indigenous peoples that are typically left out of traditional textbooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some days were more difficult than others, she said. She recalled leaving school in tears after discussing the history of boarding schools, the image of her own young children in her mind. But throughout the year, Rafalski said, the class grew close through reflection and celebrations of Indigenous perseverance through art. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things in this class. They\u2019re hard topics to teach,\u201d Rafalski said. \u201cThere\u2019s no sensationalizing any of it.\u201d But, she added, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to do trauma. Every time we learn about something difficult, we do something that shows resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Become a lifelong learner. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter<\/a> featuring the most important stories in education.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2018, when the state education board called for the adoption of ethnic studies classes, most members supported the idea of expanded instruction, but they had differing views on whether that content should be included in separate courses or integrated into existing ones. Supporters of the ethnic studies classes referenced research suggesting that student performance improved<\/a> by including representation in their textbooks, while others worried a class specializing in specific ethnic groups could be divisive. Ultimately, Texas approved a Mexican American studies course that year, marking the first high school ethnic studies class greenlit in the state and the first K-12 Mexican American Studies course to be approved by a state board of education<\/a>. The Native studies class was approved three years later, followed by an Asian American studies class in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Students seemed to like the class: Some 97 percent of the 63 students who responded to a Texas Education Agency survey on the course said they felt \u201cmore positive about Native American\/Indigenous culture than before taking the class.\u201d One student said the course \u201chelped me by not being afraid of who I am as a Native American.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Walter Dougherty, a 10-year-old from Conroe Independent School District near Houston who testified in favor of the course, said at the hearing that before AINS, his classes focused more on ancient civilizations than today\u2019s Native Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople talk about us like we\u2019re gone, but we\u2019re not. I\u2019m right here,\u201d Dougherty said. \u201cMy brother and I are Cherokee kids growing up in Texas, and we want people to know our culture and history. … When I learn about my Cherokee family, I feel proud. I feel like I can do anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t imagine if my son were to never understand about his ancestors,\u201d said Cheyenne Rendon (Din\u00e9 and Apache), the senior policy officer for the Society of Native Nations and a lifelong Texan who grew up attending San Antonio schools. AINS, she said, \u201cgives me hope that we\u2019re not going to be erased.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: States were adding lessons about Native American history. Then came the anti-CRT movement<\/a><\/p>\n During discussions about reauthorizing the American Indian\/Native Studies course, the question of whether it ran afoul of Texas\u2019s latest anti-DEI policies came up repeatedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the hearing, Orlando Lara, cofounder of the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas, defended the course\u2019s legality, noting that the federal Department of Education said<\/a> in an April 2025 letter that \u201cAmerican Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian history is not classified as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory (CRT).\u201d Under this direction, Native Americans represent distinct political identities as members of sovereign tribal nations, nonspecific to racial or ethnic classifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But board members continued to press Lara over the technical definitions of race and ethnicity as they questioned how to interpret the latest state legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because of a lack of guidance from the Texas Education Agency on the \u201ccontroversial issues\u201d legislation in 2021, Lara said later, \u201cfor a long time, a lot of districts didn\u2019t know what would get them in trouble with the law.\u201d To counter this, he said, the Ethnic Studies Network is \u201ctrying to get out there that there\u2019s no reason to fear teaching the class.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There were other objections to the course too. State school board member Julie Pickren, R-Pearland, said materials used in the class depicted \u201cPresident George Washington as a terrorist\u201d and lessons about boarding schools were \u201caccusing our Christian missions and churches of kidnapping and sending kids to reeducation camps.\u201d Pickren did not respond to interview requests. Her comments about George Washington appeared to refer to an online resource from academic publisher ABC-Clio, which described his 1779 campaign against Iroquois villages siding with the British in which he instructed<\/a> the army “to rush on with the war-whoop and fixed bayonet” because nothing would “disconcert and terrify the Indians more than this.”<\/p>\n Audrey Young, a Republican school board member who represents the Houston area, shared similar concerns. She argued that 2024 curriculum standards<\/a> requiring \u201csuitable\u201d educational materials to promote patriotism, lawful activity and other values should apply to innovative courses like the AINS class. \u201cCurrently, the suitability standards aren\u2019t required\u201d for innovative courses, Young wrote in an email. \u201cBut I do believe that if courses are being taught to students, then they should have to follow ALL the laws.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pickren and Young were among the five board members who voted against the class, but another nine members voted in favor. Those supporters noted that the AINS course materials had undergone a series of reviews and further deliberation was unnecessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is Texas history,\u201d Gustavo Reveles, a Democrat who represents El Paso and other predominantly Hispanic border communities and who voted for the course, said in an interview. \u201cA child can see themselves represented, can see themselves as members of this very amazing state and country, not just because of George Washington, not just because of Abraham Lincoln, but because of his people that look like him and talk like him.\u201d<\/p>\n While supporters of the class celebrated the board\u2019s approval, it\u2019s only one step. They are now trying to get the course standards approved as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which would leave it less vulnerable during review and renewal conversations. As it stands, the class faces another board vote in 2030 at the end of its current five-year innovative course period. Course organizers are also trying to encourage more districts and educators to adopt the class.<\/p>\n After graduating from the Grand Prairie school district last spring, Horn joined his family on the road as he took his place in the family business as traveling circus organizers.<\/p>\n He said the class became a way for him to connect with his culture and family as a descendant of the Potawatomi Nation. Now, he said, he hopes to get involved with his local Native communities and participate in the Texas powwow trail, a Native-run cultural celebration that takes place in several Texas cities each year.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate being a part of a community, especially this one,\u201d Horn said. \u201cI know where I\u2019m from, and it means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Kaiya Little is a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma who has written about a variety of topics highlighting the environment and Indigenous identities in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at preston@hechingerreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story about Native American history<\/a> was produced by The Hechinger Report<\/a>, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/inside-the-fight-to-save-texas-native-american-studies-course\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/hechingerreport.org”>The Hechinger Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hechingerreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cropped-favicon.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=114936&ga4=G-03KPHXDF3H” style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/inside-the-fight-to-save-texas-native-american-studies-course\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/hechingerreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Kaiya Little, The Hechinger Report February 20, 2026 Savion Horn watched as \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter\u201d images appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11134,1725,69739,4663,287,27,29,28,1153],"class_list":{"0":"post-172556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-curriculum","9":"tag-high-school","10":"tag-native-education","11":"tag-parents","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-headlines","15":"tag-texas-news","16":"tag-trump-administration"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}