{"id":352143,"date":"2026-06-27T00:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T00:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352143\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T00:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T00:33:34","slug":"texas-board-of-education-approves-required-k-12-reading-list-with-bible-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352143\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Board of Education approves required K-12 reading list with Bible stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Texas State Board of Education on Friday approved a new <a href=\"https:\/\/sboe.texas.gov\/state-board-of-education\/sboe-2026\/sboe-2026-june\/june-22-2026-committee-of-the-full-board-item-1?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">required reading list<\/a> for more than 5 million K-12 public schools that includes stories from the Bible.<\/p>\n<p>The list <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/texas-curriculum-bible-board-vote-06530403ff91c10462382422003e109f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will affect every grade level<\/a>. Elementary students will be required to read picture-book versions of \u201cDavid and Goliath\u201d and \u201cDaniel and the Lion\u2019s Den.\u201d Middle school students must read passages from the Sermon on the Mount from the Bible\u2019s New Testament, while high schoolers must read about Adam and Eve and the parable of the prodigal son.<\/p>\n<p>The changes will impact <a href=\"https:\/\/tea.texas.gov\/data-reports\/school-performance\/accountability-research\/enroll-2024-25.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5.5 million public school students<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usreligioncensus.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-10\/ReligiousDiversity-Jones.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">religiously diverse state<\/a>, according to enrollment data for the 2024-25 school year.<\/p>\n<p>The reading list, which received preliminary approval in April, drew criticism from parents and educators who decried the infusion of religion in public school curriculum. Critics of the list, including religious freedom groups and other faith groups, argued it centers Christianity in public school instruction, raising concerns about the separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\tRecommended<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/author\/erum-salam\" aria-label=\"View posts by Erum Salam\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"96\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/erum_salam_headshot.jpeg\" class=\"avatar avatar-96 photo byline__author_image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-transform:capitalize;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\" class=\"wp-elements-3d9e3a01226009cccaa3bc823fe8058e wp-block-rkv-person-info has-text-color has-grey-60-color has-fs-0875-font-size has-monospace-font-family\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/author\/erum-salam\" aria-label=\"View posts by Erum Salam\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tErum Salam<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-transform:none;margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--100);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\" class=\"wp-elements-a8f0e7d8e089f8e68172c1c387616c89 wp-block-rkv-person-info has-text-color has-grey-60-color has-fs-0750-font-size has-merriweather-font-family\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tErum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.\t\t<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"662\" width=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768151371_973_MS_NOW_ICON_WHITE-3-1-1.png\" alt=\"MS NOW\" class=\"wp-image-1059956\" style=\"width:40px\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e5526a3af79f5efe35aea76477c36d52\" style=\"color:#ffffff80\">\u00a9\u00a02026 Versant Media, LLC<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"145\" width=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768151372_535_MS_NOW_PRIMARY_LOGO_WHITE_RGB-2-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1059965\" style=\"width:106px\"  \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas State Board of Education on Friday approved a new required reading list for more than 5&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-352143","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\/352143","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=352143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}