A Full Review of November 2024 Texas State Board of Education (SBOE): Religious Liberty (The Bible), Protection of Kids from Dirty Books and Education Choice Prevail
Many people have asked us for more detail and feedback about what happened recently at the SBOE in November, and many have made false statements and allegations about this issue, often times making personal attacks on members of our team and other elected officials when they couldn’t successfully back up and defend their complaints. We are always open to more dialogue and discussion and fully prepared to defend and back up our work, so here’s more information on this important issue.
Last month, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted 8-7 to approve an English Language Arts curriculum that has references to the Bible, with three (3) Republicans unsuccessfully voting to remove the Bible references. The Bluebonnet Learning materials, which are a part of the new adoption process under HB 1605 passed in 2023, have been under attack since this summer for their references to different stories from the Bible like “The Good Samaritan” and the story of courage displayed by Queen Esther. You may even recall from this summer the so-called “study” by leftist Texas Freedom Network claiming that having references to the Bible turns schools into Sunday Schools! You can read our debunk/analysis of their study here. In fact, the far Left leaning and often anti-Christian state legislator James Talarico publicly trashed the materials in a Texas House hearing during a summer interim hearing on a topic unrelated to the instructional materials. After months of public feedback and media attention, the widely discussed Bluebonnet materials were eligible for a final vote at the SBOE in November.
A Review on the Bluebonnet Curriculum and how we got involved
At the September 2024 meeting, many Leftist organizations like Texas Freedom Network, showed up en masse to testify against the Bluebonnet materials because they contained references to different stories from the Bible and the influence that Christianity has had on literature and culture in the Western world. Our team at Texas Values also presented testimony in support of keeping the Bible references, and our friends at First Liberty Institute provided testimony to make it clear that the Bible references did not result in any constitutional violations. Despite other textbooks for other subjects being discussed, the majority of the testimony, at both the September meeting and the meeting in November were focused on the Biblical references in the Bluebonnet curriculum due to the attacks from the “Left”.
For review, some of the references in the Bluebonnet curriculum K-5 English Language Arts classes included:
- Students learning “The Golden Rule”
- The story of “The Good Samaritan”
- A story on the courage of Esther
- Stories explaining the many Biblical references that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”
- How religious liberty was an important value in our nation’s founding
The November Vote, The Last Chance for Approval
On the first day of the SBOE meeting, the public had an opportunity to testify on the instructional materials being considered for approval. Texas Values team members testified providing various legal, policy, and educational perspectives. Other groups that provided testimony included Texas Eagle Forum and Texas Public Policy Foundation, just to name a few. The SBOE also heard from many educators and parents from Temple and Lubbock who expressed the positive benefits of using a curriculum similar to the Bluebonnet materials being considered. After testimony went into the night, the SBOE adjourned and postponed the preliminary vote to Tuesday.
The vote on instructional materials was on the agenda for Tuesday morning. Members had the opportunity to make a preliminary list that would be recommended to the Full Board for approval at the Friday meeting. A motion was made to remove the Bluebonnet materials from the recommended list. Many members stated their various reasons for and against the Bluebonnet materials, with many of the negative comments focusing on the Bible stories in the English Language Arts curriculum. The motion to remove the Bluebonnet Learning materials failed on a vote of 7-8. Three Republican members (Pam Little, Evelyn Brooks, and Pat Hardy) joined their Left-leaning, and often extreme, Democrat colleagues in voting for the Bluebonnet Learning materials to be removed. The Bluebonnet materials were temporarily saved and were placed on the final list of recommended instructional materials.
Three Republican Members Possibly Betray their Party, Campaign, and Constituents
The three Republican votes against the Bluebonnet curriculum come as a surprise considering that the Republican Party of Texas platform supports and advocates for the return of the Bible and Ten Commandments to the classroom and for instruction on the Bible at schools. (Platform 18 and 19). While SBOE member Evelyn Brooks asked several questions regarding her concern with the Establishment Clause in September, the three members remained mostly reticent about their reasons for opposing the curriculum until the day after the preliminary vote. SBOE member Pam Little sent an email and drafted social media posts on her reasons for voting against the Bluebonnet curriculum. However, many of Little’s claims can be addressed or debunked.
- In an email forwarded to our team, Little expresses concerns that Kindergarteners have a unit on kings and queens (Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, Julius Caesar) before students have been introduced to George Washington. However, she fails to consider that history is being taught to students chronologically in time and she ignores the very positive pro-American tone of the Bluebonnet curriculum as a whole. There are entire lessons in the curriculum on American history and the founding of our country.
- Also, in the email, she claims that the curriculum does not align with Science and Social Studies TEKS. However, the Bluebonnet curriculum is for English Language Arts classes. Also, according to the new law (HB 1605), all materials in the selection process must align with 100 percent of the TEKS in order to be considered by the SBOE. Thus, the Bluebonnet materials met this threshold.
- Little complains about 5th graders reading a Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This play is one of the easier to read plays by William Shakespeare and is typically taught in middle school English, meaning students would only be reading the play a grade earlier.
Pam Little claims that she had “her Conservative Christian education activists” review the materials and provide her with this information. However, Pam Little refused to meet with Texas Values on multiple occasions and neither did she or her “activists” share these concerns with our organization so that we could be knowledgeable of them or address the concerns. In all transparency, a month ago Pam Little told our government relations director at a public event at a church that she would not listen to or agree to meet with Texas Values ever again because Texas Values Action (our 501(c)(4) partner organization) endorsed her opponent in the March primaries. Pam Little also expressed that she does not care what our Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick thinks about education issues because of his endorsement of her political opponent. It appears evident that Member Little’s delayed email explaining her vote is smokescreen to cover up for her apparent desire to get political revenge. In short, Pam Little chose politics over policy. In contrast, our team still made efforts to discuss the instructional materials with Pam Little even though our partner organization had decided that constituents needed a stronger voice who they could count on. We chose to focus on policy over politics and we always will when we work on policy issues.
Similarly, SBOE member Pat Hardy lost her re-election in the March primaries and will not be returning to the SBOE next year. Member Hardy proceeded to make many votes against Conservative and family values throughout the week. Parents and concerned citizens should be aware that politics mattered more to some members than giving students high quality materials. This is disheartening considering that reading comprehension is at an all-time low in Texas and the current alternative is sexually explicit LGBT novels in school libraries.
SBOE member Evelyn Brooks did not communicate her concerns about the curriculum and did not attend a Texas Values “Lunch and Learn” event in her district a week before the SBOE meeting, even after we reached out to her office directly to have her attend. However, her bio reads that she, “has extensive experience educating and helping youth to develop a Biblical worldview,”. Brooks would proceed to lead the charge to attack the curriculum with references to the Bible at the Friday meeting in November when the vote was taken.
Between the narrow vote to save the curriculum between Tuesday and Friday, you played a critical role in moving the vote in a positive direction. Texas Values worked to mobilize supporters across the state to encourage SBOE members to approve the Bluebonnet materials and resist the call to reject them for having religious references.
Our team was mentioned in the media 238 times before the final vote on Friday. We even leveraged our relationships with members and key players to be in communication about the benefit of the curriculum and clear any concerns about the First Amendment. On Thursday, First Liberty Institute, one of the leading law firms on the issue of the First Amendment issued a press statement in support of the materials and stating that the materials were protected by the First Amendment. Other groups that supported our efforts include: Moms for Liberty, Concerned Women for America, American Principles Project, and many more.
After a Close Vote on Tuesday, ‘Bluebonnet’ is Approved on Friday
The Bluebonnet Learning materials survived their first challenge on Tuesday but they had to have a final vote of approval on Friday. SBOE member Evelyn Brooks, who raised many questions (that were answered and put to rest by expert lawyers) about the Establishment Clause in September, made a motion to remove the Bluebonnet Learning materials from the approved list of recommended materials so that they could have their own separate vote. SBOE member Staci Childs made a second motion to separate out the English Language Arts materials for Bluebonnet (with the Bible references) to be voted on. After many speeches were given by Leftist members about their dislike of the materials because of their references to the Bible and Christianity, the SBOE voted 8-7 to finally approve the Bluebonnet English Language Arts materials.
A victory like this is important for parents and students in our state. Many Texans complain about the woke, LGBT and CRT curriculum being pushed in schools at the expense of students not meeting reading proficiency standards in our state.
Legislative Priorities for the 89th Session
The SBOE discussed many other topics during the week besides the instructional materials. The SBOE also voted on a list of legislative priorities for the upcoming session. As an affiliate of a state agency, the SBOE cannot advocate for policy at the legislature, but they can communicate policy goals that they hope receive attention at the Capitol. SBOE member Tom Maynard proposed a legislative priority to grant the SBOE more authority in the review of sexually explicit books in public school libraries. Maynard issued the proposal as a response to the legal and practical setbacks with the implementation of HB 900 that was passed in the 88th Legislative Session to address pornographic books in schools. While there was concern about how the SBOE would be able to review the volume of library books, this priority was supported by a majority of the members to be added to the final legislative priority list which was passed with a vote of 11-0. (It is important to note that the same advocacy groups who defend sexually explicit books for children also opposed the Bluebonnet curriculum).
The topic of school choice was also discussed. SBOE member Marisa Perez-Diaz (D) offered as a priority, “The State Board of Education calls on the Texas Legislature to support public schools and oppose Education Savings Accounts or any other mechanism/instrument that would defer Texas taxpayer dollars to private or parochial schools”. A few members cautioned that voting on such amendment could cause the Legislature to reject all of the SBOE’s recommendations, but member Evelyn Brooks expressed public support of the anti-school choice amendment. A record vote on the anti-school choice priority was called and it failed 6-9. SBOE members Pat Hardy and Evelyn Brooks voted once again with the Leftist Democrats in favor of the anti-school choice legislative priority.
Conclusion
At Texas Values we know that “government belongs to those who show up.” By showing up, your Texas Values team was able to provide influence through research, testimony, relationships, and the media. But we could not have done this without your emails and showing up in Austin to support us as well. We’d like to believe that God was looking down on us as well, reminding us that His word is eternal and supreme! God bless you and God Bless Texas!