{"id":346404,"date":"2026-06-23T01:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T01:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346404\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T01:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T01:37:08","slug":"education-advocates-split-as-state-board-nears-vote-on-new-social-studies-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346404\/","title":{"rendered":"Education advocates split as state board nears vote on new social studies standards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas  \u2014 Education advocates are sharply divided as the Texas State Board of Education prepares to vote on <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/texas-education-board-to-vote-friday-on-proposed-social-studies-standards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">rewritten social studies curriculum<\/a> standards and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/06\/19\/texas-religious-reading-list-sboe-bible-public-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new required literature list<\/a> for K-12 students that includes Bible passages.<\/p>\n<p>The debate played out publicly with dueling demonstrations on Monday. A press conference inside the Barbara Jordan State Office Building in support of the new standards celebrated what they view as religious freedom in public schools. Outside, a symbolic funeral marked what opponents described as its perceived \u201cdeath.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are bringing the Bible back into schools this week for the first time in 60 years,\u201d board member Brandon Hall (District 11) said during the indoor event, drawing applause.<\/p>\n<p>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/texas-education-board-to-vote-friday-on-proposed-social-studies-standards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Texas education board to vote Friday on proposed social studies standards<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Outside, Lisa Endean-Jacob, North Texas organizer for the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, criticized the direction of the board. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decisions made behind these walls are trampling on the blessings that our kids long for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative board members, including Julie Pickren (District 7), are backing curriculum changes that place more emphasis on American and Texas exceptionalism and the influence Judeo-Christian values had on the country and state&#8217;s history. <\/p>\n<p>Pickren argued the standards should incorporate biblical texts for literary purposes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe wonderful laws that are being passed, that have been passed, we now must include the Old Testament and New Testament for literary knowledge in our social studies standards,\u201d Pickren said.<\/p>\n<p>A proposed required reading list includes Bible passages, which supporters say would be used for historical context.<\/p>\n<p>Public testimony Monday reflected the divide among Texans. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an attempt to force the beliefs of a few on everyone,\u201d one speaker told the board. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to recognize our Judeo-Christian heritage and its influence on both Texas and American institutions,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents of the new curriculum argue the it is biased in favor of one religion over others. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey do this job because they care about kids. And yet they\u2019re passing policies that hurt the very kids that they care about,\u201d Endean-Jacob said.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed the proposed standards when asked about the State Board of Education meeting Monday. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Chair Kinsey is taking the board in the right direction. I trust him in making sure the curriculum standards are going to be consistent with where we as Texans really want them to go,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n<p>Votes on both the curriculum and the reading lists by the State Board of Education are expected by Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Education advocates are sharply divided as the Texas State Board of Education prepares to vote&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-346404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346404","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=346404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}