Texas is moving to require public school students to read Bible passages and study the role of Christianity in the state’s history — changes embedded in new reading lists and social studies curriculum expected to win approval Friday, June 27.
The curriculum would make Bible readings a mandatory part of instruction, not an elective or supplemental text. That’s a distinction critics of church-state separation in public education are likely to contest.
No vote had been recorded as of Friday morning. The approval was still pending.
The move tracks a broader push by Texas Republican officials to embed religious content in public school classrooms — one that has drawn legal challenges in other states that have attempted similar shifts. Texas, with one of the largest public school enrollments in the country, carries unusual weight when its curriculum boards act; textbook publishers and curriculum vendors have historically adjusted national materials to match Texas standards.
The social studies component would also require students to learn specifically about Christianity’s influence on Texas history, not simply religion in a general sense. Whether other faiths receive comparable treatment in the new framework wasn’t immediately clear from the curriculum details available ahead of the vote.
Constitutional questions about government-mandated Bible instruction in public schools have reached federal courts before. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled against school-sponsored religious activity, though the line between teaching about religion and promoting it remains contested ground in education law.
The full scope of the approved curriculum — including which grade levels would be affected and how districts would be expected to implement the Bible reading requirements — hadn’t been publicly released ahead of the expected Friday vote.
