The Texas State Board of Education gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a proposed reading list with Bible materials. The list includes 13 biblical readings, with at least one Bible passage or story in every grade except kindergarten. The reading list would be required for Texas public school students starting with the 2030-31 school year. The debate over the reading list continues a yearslong ...

A King James version of the Holy Bible opened up to the Gospel of John.

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The Texas State Board of Education gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a proposed reading list with Bible materials.

The list includes 13 biblical readings, with at least one Bible passage or story in every grade except kindergarten. The reading list would be required for Texas public school students starting with the 2030-31 school year.

The debate over the reading list continues a yearslong battle over what role religion should have in the classroom. This week, the board is also considering changing social studies standards to emphasize American and Texas history over world cultures and geography.

The vote on the reading list came after the board heard hours of public testimony Monday at the meeting in Austin, which drew people from across the state. Advocates for the list emphasized the historical value of biblical texts, especially to American history. They argued that Texas’ reading list should honor the United States’ “Judeo-Christian” roots.

“America and Texas have been a Christian nation and a Christian state forever,” Republican board member Brandon Hall said at the meeting. “The proportion of the impact (Christians have) had is why they are included. There are other faiths that are represented, but they've had a minimal impact, especially in our founding and our culture and laws leading up to this point.”

During Tuesday's meeting, the board pared the required reading list down, removing several titles from elementary school grades. Board member Will Hickman, R-Houston, said he and other board members had heard concerns from the public that the list was too extensive and would demand too much of the school year. Hickman, who proposed some of the cuts, said streamlining the list would allow districts to select more of their own titles locally.

Among the titles that were cut was "The Mouse and the Motorcycle," a 186-page novel by children's author Beverly Cleary. The book had appeared on the second grade reading list as a title teachers were expected to read aloud in class. Several board members said they liked the book personally and had fond memories of reading it with their kids, but acknowledged that asking teachers to read it aloud with their classes would take up a great deal of class time.

Teaching about religion vs. teaching religion

The list draws from the Books of Luke, Genesis, Matthew and more, but it does not include any central texts from other religions, prompting concern that the state is violating the separation of church and state.

“It’s vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion,” said Joshua Fixler, a rabbi from Houston.

In response to the idea that the list promotes Christianity, supporters of the list said the biblical references give students a “more complete” education, arguing that including the Bible does not equate to indoctrination.

“If our goal is to educate, we should not exclude one of the most significant influences on our nation's development,” Stephen Lara, a Turning Point USA leader in Lubbock, said at Monday’s meeting in Austin.

The final list is significantly pared down from the version proposed in January, with over 300 texts cut in the interim, including seven Bible lessons and texts from Mary Shelley and Booker T. Washington. State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, said at the meeting that the list does not include enough Hispanic and Black authors, and is therefore not representative of the state’s population.

“A reading list that does not reflect the full breadth of who we are as Texans is not a Texas reading list,” Bhojani said. “It is a selective one.”

Republican board member L.J. Francis said the issue of author diversity is an “adult problem” rather than a “children’s problem,” and diversity in literature goes beyond an author’s identity.

Texas is creating its reading list in compliance with a 2023 state law, which only requires one mandatory text per grade level. However, the proposed list requires as many as two dozen texts for some grade levels, including novels, short stories, poems and excerpts. Some educators and community members said the sheer volume of texts would take up too much instructional time, causing teachers to neglect other educational priorities.

Thomas Ray Garcia, an English professor at South Texas College, pointed out that several texts such as Aesop’s Fables and Davy Crockett are repeated in different grade levels, leading to redundancy, and argued those repetitions should be removed.

“Every entry you remove from these lists is instructional time given back to a teacher who knows their students best,” Garcia said.

Exclusive use of the King James translation faulted

Some speakers also objected to the list’s almost exclusive use of the King James translation of the Bible, including for Old Testament excerpts. Jewish and Catholic speakers said that the reading list discriminates even among Christians by centering Protestant Christianity.

Those in favor of the King James translation, including Hall, said it has stood the test of time and is more “poetic” than other, more modern translations. According to Texas education code, students taking elective courses on the Bible may not be confined to one specific translation of the Hebrew Scriptures or New Testament, but it is unclear if that statute applies to the required reading list.

The reading list is just one in a series of measures that would increase the role of religion in Texas public schools.

In March, school districts decided whether to institute a daily period for praying or reading religious texts. However, most North Texas districts did not implement a prayer period, citing logistical concerns.

Additionally, a federal appeals court in April upheld a Texas law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Following the ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began investigating several districts, including Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano ISDs.

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