Alert! Sign Up to Testify for Religion at Ed Board
The Registration Period for Testimony for the November Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) opens Monday, November 11, at 8a.m. We need as many people in Texas as possible to show up to the meeting and testify that they support Biblical references and Christianity in the classroom!
The State Board of Education will meet November 18-22 in Austin, Texas at the William B. Travis Building where they will vote to approve instructional materials (Bluebonnet Learning) that include Biblical references and references to Christianity. The SBOE is planning to hear testimony on Monday, November 18, at 1p.m. regarding the instructional materials.
In September, the SBOE heard testimony from the public on the first round of instructional materials that will be adopted after the Texas Legislature passed HB 1605 (a law that streamlines the textbook process and allows parents to review instructional materials). Unfortunately, the testimony was overwhelmingly negative with many testifiers calling the story of Esther offensive and falsely claiming that referencing the Bible in the classroom (and even references to how religious freedom relates to our country’s foundation) violates the First Amendment. But as you know, this is NOT true. Students are allowed to learn about the Bible in an academic, non-devotional setting. Some of the references in the instructional materials include:
- Teaching students about the “Golden Rule”
- The Good Samaritan
- The Prodigal Son
- A story about Queen Esther
- An explanation of the story of the three Hebrew boys in reference to Martin Luther King Jr Letter from the Birmingham Jail
The publisher of these materials, which follow a “classical” model of education, make references to religion in order to help with student reading comprehension and understanding of common phrases in the English language. Reading the Bible also helps with college readiness.
These attacks are an effort by the Left to not just erase all references to Christianity or religious liberty in the classroom, but to replace them with radical, “woke”, and LGBT materials. As we have seen before, these Leftist groups don’t want a neutral classroom, they want a classroom where their beliefs become the religion students adhere to. Keep in mind that the organizations that are opposing the mention of religion in the instructional materials are the same organizations who advocated to keep sexually explicit materials in the school libraries during the 88th legislative session!
As a parent, you have an opportunity to speak up! Tell the Texas State Board of Education that they should not reject the OER instructional materials because of their religious content. Tell them to stand up for students being able to study religion in a literary and historical context.
If you are a parent, educator, or concerned citizen who wants a voice on this issue. Please show up and testify! The opposition is bringing buses of people who oppose religion from all over the state to testify.
Registration for testimony will open Monday, November 11 at 8a.m. and will close Friday, November 15 at 5p.m. Please register to testify on the agenda item related to “instructional materials” or “HB 1605 instructional materials” for the Monday, November 18 meeting. If you have questions, please call our office at (512) 478-2220 and ask to speak to a member of the policy team. Find the link to testify here.
If you cannot make it to the SBOE meeting, please send an email. Tell the SBOE that you support religious references taught in a literary and historical context in the classroom. Let them know that the opposition is being hostile to Christianity and that books should not be rejected simply because they mention stories from the Bible. You can email the SBOE members by submitting an email at this address: sboesupport@sboe.texas.gov.
For more information, please read our blog on the study that Leftist organizations released on the materials.