Texas may become first state to mandate Bible readings in public schools

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FILE - Christian woman reading the Holy Bible. (Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas - An upcoming vote by a Texas board will decide whether public school children across the state will be required to read sections of the Christian Bible. 

The selections would be a part of the first-ever statewide mandated reading list for public schools. 

Texas school Bible readings

The Texas Education Agency proposed their list of "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading," which is set to go before the State Board of Education next week for a preliminary approval vote. 

The list includes a variety of texts, ranging from Sophocles to Fred Rogers and culminating in hundreds of required texts from kindergarten to 12th grade. 

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Of those required readings, 11 are directly from the Christian Bible:

• Do Not Be Anxious (Matthew 6:25–34) – Grade 6
• The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13) – Grade 7
• The Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalm 23) – Grade 7
• Jonah and the Whale (Book of Jonah) – Grade 7
• The Eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12) – Grade 8
• David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) – English I
• Lamentations 3 – English I
• The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) – English II
• To Everything There Is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3) – English III
• The Book of Job (selected chapters) – English IV

Three other texts — "The Golden Rule," "The Parable of the Prodigal Son," and "The Road to Damascus" — are Biblical retellings taken from Texas' Bluebonnet Learning curriculum. 

Other texts aren't directly from the Bible, but are either theological or have strong Christian symbolism. 

Next steps in Texas education

The proposed list is the first step towards implementing rules laid out in House Bill 1605 of Texas' 2023 legislative session. 

After next week's vote by the board, the TEA plans for the final literary works rule adoption to happen by April 2026. 

The literature list is set to be followed by a vocabulary list, which the TEA said will be driven in part by the approved literature selections. 

Following the finalization of the lists, a two-and-a-half-year process will begin for publishers to prepare textbooks to support the new guidelines. Additionally, state exams will be updated to reflect the changes. 

In the end, the approved lists of standardized reading and vocabulary wouldn't be implemented in the classroom until the 2030-31 school year. 

Ten Commandments in classrooms

Dig deeper:

Senate Bill 10, of Texas' most recent session, requires every public school classroom to display the Christian Ten Commandments. The bill was approved by Gov. Abbott in late June.

The law requires a "durable poster or framed copy" of the Ten Commandments be posted in each classroom. The copies would need to be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and "in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom."

The bill faced some opposition before passage. Amendments allowing school boards to vote on their involvement or allowing other codes of ethics from other religions were shot down in the House.

After being challenged in the court system and even being blocked for some districts, the matter is now being heard by a federal court of appeals to determine its constitutional implications.