Texas instituted on Friday the nation\u2019s first-ever statewide K-12 required reading list for public schools. Students in public schools will soon be required to read Anne Frank\u2019s diary and a host of Bible passages, along with other Jewish- and Holocaust-related texts.<\/p>\n
The decision has drawn vigorous objections from some of the state\u2019s Jews. Several local rabbis and other Jewish leaders pushed back on the proposal during the public comment period<\/a> in the lead-up to the vote this week because of concerns including injecting Christian content into the schools.<\/p>\n In a vote Friday of nine to five, the Republican-controlled state education board approved the list, mandating reading selections usually left to individual schools and teachers. The curriculum will go into effect in 2030 and apply to the roughly 5.5 million schoolchildren in Texas public schools.<\/p>\n The move comes as the board has increasingly sought to incorporate Christianity into the state\u2019s public schools, including in 2024 when it approved an optional Bible curriculum for elementary schools<\/a> that drew pushback from Jewish parents and advocates. Last year, Republican lawmakers in the state also required the display of the Ten Commandments<\/a> in every public school classroom.<\/p>\n The passage of the reading list follows an effort by the state\u2019s conservative education leaders to reverse a nationwide decline in the number of books read or assigned in class and exercise control over the texts students are exposed to.<\/p>\n In recent years, Texas has been at the forefront of the national wave of book removals, with several districts pulling books about the Holocaust<\/a> and Jewish history<\/a>, including versions of Anne Frank\u2019s diary.<\/a> Decisions by the state education board have historically had an effect on schools nationwide,<\/a> in part because of the vast population of school age students in the state.<\/p>\n The new reading list<\/a>, which spans over 150 titles, includes Elie Wiesel\u2019s Holocaust memoir \u201cNight\u201d; Lois Lowry\u2019s young-reader Holocaust novel \u201cNumber the Stars\u201d; George Washington\u2019s letter to a Rhode Island synagogue in 1790, and the \u201coriginal edition\u201d of Frank\u2019s diary. Conservatives, including in Texas, have objected to a graphic novel version that illustrates passages in which the diarist describes her sexual longings.<\/p>\n Other books on the list include \u201cCharlotte\u2019s Web\u201d by E. B. White and \u201cAnimal Farm\u201d by George Orwell.<\/p>\n Beginning in the fourth grade, students will also be required to read numerous passages from both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, a requirement that has drawn fierce opposition from some Texas Jewish leaders.<\/p>\n Board members continued to propose last-minute additions to the list right up until the vote Friday afternoon, adding the Biblical parable Jonah and the Whale to the first grade curriculum.<\/p>\n The final reading list was pared down from roughly 300 texts after the board initially discussed the proposal in February<\/a>. At the time, state education board leaders told JTA that they had consulted with experts including the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission, a state government body.<\/p>\n