AUSTIN \u2013 The Texas State Board of Education has taken a major step toward rewriting what students across the state will learn in social studies.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the board approved an early draft of new social studies standards, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, after hours of heated debate that stretched late into the night.<\/p>\n
The proposed changes are now at the center of a growing divide over how history \u2014 and religion \u2014 should be taught in Texas classrooms.<\/p>\n
Concerns over religion in the classroom<\/p>\n
Some board members and critics argue the draft places too much emphasis on Christianity.<\/p>\n
Staci Childs, a Houston Democrat representing District 4 on the board, says many parents and educators are worried.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor one, people don\u2019t want to be indoctrinated, or they don\u2019t want their kids to be indoctrinated. We see a lot of Biblical references, a lot of scripture, a lot of passages,\u201d Childs said.<\/p>\n
Childs, who voted against the draft, says religion should not overshadow other perspectives in history.<\/p>\n
\u201cReligion is definitely something that has shaped our history, but what these standards are doing is that they\u2019re trying to teach only one version of it,\u201d said Ismelda Meija, with the Texas Freedom Network.<\/p>\n
She also expressed concern that the proposed standards could limit how students learn about the experiences of people of color.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think students deserve to learn the fullness of American history,\u201d Childs said.<\/p>\n
Supporters defend proposed changes<\/p>\n
Supporters of the new standards argue the changes are necessary to improve how history is currently taught.<\/p>\n
Some say the current curriculum focuses too heavily on memorization \u2014 names, dates and events \u2014 rather than deeper understanding.<\/p>\n
They also argue that including Biblical references reflects the historical and cultural foundations of the United States.<\/p>\n
Board member Will Hickman defended the inclusion of those materials, emphasizing they are not meant to promote religion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the Bible being used as literature. This is not the Bible being used to spread Christianity or to teach Christianity,\u201d Hickman said.<\/p>\n
Dispute over accuracy and data<\/p>\n
The debate also included claims about how well Texas students are currently performing in social studies.<\/p>\n
Mandi Drogin, with Austin-based conservative think tank Texas Public Policy, suggested students are not learning effectively under the current system. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re failing, students are failing. We can look at the social studies 8th grade exam in Texas, and we have only about 30% of kids that are passing, they\u2019re failing,\u201d said Drogin.<\/p>\n
But data from the Texas Education Agency found that in the 2024\u20132025 school year, about 77% of students passed social studies.<\/p>\n
What happens next<\/p>\n
The version approved this week is only a draft.<\/p>\n
The State Board of Education is expected to revisit and potentially finalize the standards this summer.<\/p>\n
If approved, the new curriculum would not take effect until the 2030\u20132031 school year.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN \u2013 The Texas State Board of Education has taken a major step toward rewriting what students across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[163,93913,93915,66,223,287,93912,91218,93914,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-247082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-education","tag-education-policy-debate","tag-history-standards-texas","tag-local","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-public-school-curriculum-texas","tag-social-studies","tag-state-board-of-education-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247082","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=247082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}