America and Texas Win at the Texas State Board of Education on 250th Anniversary of our Nation
Plus, schools will now get back to the basics on reading with the Bible
The last week of June, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) delivered a tremendous victory for over 5.5 million students in Texas public schools. Two monumental votes were taken. The first was for a mandated reading list of classical literature and texts from the Bible to help increase reading comprehension and literary competency. The second vote was for Social Studies standards for students in Kindergarten through 8th grade and the high school courses of Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Social Studies Research Skills, and two electives on ethnic studies courses.
If you are a regular follower of Texas Values, then you recall that the review and revision of the Social Studies standards first began in 2022 when Texas Values and a large number of grassroots groups pleaded with the SBOE to stop the vote due to the overwhelming Critical Race Theory and LGBT references in the drafts. The SBOE postponed the process in 2022. Since then, Republicans gained a 10-5 supermajority on the SBOE. The SBOE returned to the review and revision process over a year ago and began receiving feedback on the process as early as the winter of 2025. From the beginning, Texas Values has advocated for a transparent process where knowledgeable content advisors and work group members are chosen so that accurate and positive TEKS are presented to the SBOE.
The SBOE has taken a number of votes beginning last year with an adoption of a new Social Studies framework. However, the SBOE had its first meeting on the content of the standards (TEKS) in early February. As you recall, that is when Texas Values announced that attempts to insert false claims of Islamic influence were defeated. During the April meeting, the SBOE spent several hours debating and making amendments to deliver a draft for First Reading that preserved American civics and our nation’s Christian founding. Many of you who receive our emails and attended our webinar may recall that the SBOE was on the right path towards adopting CRT—free, patriotic, and civically focused Social Studies standards. Similar to how a bill is passed in the legislature, the standards that were voted on in April needed a Second Reading and Final adoption that was scheduled to happen June.
The June meeting was critical because this was the last opportunity for advocates from all interest groups to get their point of view in the Social Studies TEKS. Left-leaning organizations like Texas Freedom Network claimed that many of the TEKS were inaccurate because they did not fit their negative narrative of the United States. Democrat members of the Texas House of Representatives sent a letter to Chairman Kinsey and the SBOE to stop the vote and start over on the Social Studies TEKS. The Texas House Democrats claimed that the process was rushed and that the standards failed to mention the contributions of Muslims. Representative Salman Bhojani (D) who led the efforts on writing of the letter, testified before the SBOE on the first day of the meeting. But many groups across the state were encouraging the SBOE to “hold the line” and continue with the adoption of the draft from April with a few minor adjustments.
The plea to the SBOE caught the attention of national media including Steve Bannon who interviewed Texas Values multiple times before the meeting to help boost registration. The national attention helped! Over 483 people registered to testify for the June meeting and a majority of the testifiers were in favor of positive and accurate history that does not shy away from religious liberty. Among some of the testifiers were several elected officials including Representative Alan Schoolcraft, Representative Carrie Isaac, Representative Hilary Hickland, and Senator Bob Hall.
Texas Values held a press conference surrounded by a large group of parents and stakeholders from all over the state of Texas. Speakers included founder of Patriot Academy Rick Green, candidate for SBOE District 9 Kason Huddleston, and President of Texas Values Jonathan Saenz. The signs in the crowd at the press conference read: “SBOE: Hold the line, Save 250 years of American History” and “Remember Texas History”, with a picture of the Alamo. (You can view the press conference on the Texas Values YouTube page).
After several hours of testimony ending around 11p.m. on Monday, the SBOE left the task of amendments and voting to the remaining days of the week-long meeting.
Social Studies Amendments and Votes
The SBOE began making amendments on June 23 after hearing public testimony the day before. Many of the amendments that were made on Tuesday considered public comments that were submitted. Some of the amendments came from the content advisors’ feedback. Most amendments were made for accuracy. For example, the SBOE concluded it was appropriate to call pastors during the American Revolution “Patriot Pastors” as opposed to the “Black Robe Regiment”. There was one late night attempt by Member Marissa Perez-Diaz to remove phrasing from a standard that said the 10 commandments influenced American laws. Left leaning members have offered similar amendments to remove influence of the 10 commandments consistently every time Social Studies has been considered for review and revision. This is why, Jonathan Saenz focused his testimony on the importance of Moses and the 10 commandments being in the Social Studies standards. Member Perez Diaz claimed that the influence of the 10 commandments on American laws was overstated citing that there are no laws requiring people to honor their parents or honor the Sabbath. However, Member Will Hickman quickly responded that Texas historically had Blue Laws that required businesses to be closed on Sundays, so her assertion was false. A TEA staff member added that car dealerships are closed on Sundays because they respect the idea of the Sabbath. Thankfully, the amendment to remove the influence of the 10 commandments failed 3-7!
However, the attacks against the mention of Moses in the TEKS did not end. Earlier in the evening, two Democrat members wanted to rewrite a standard that explained that Harriet Tubman was referred to as Moses of her people because she led her people out of slavery like Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in the book of Exodus. (this comparison indeed is a historical fact). While the amendment to remove language about Moses and the book of Exodus was initially adopted, SBOE Member Audrey Young brought the vote back for consideration to add the language about the story from Exodus. A hearty debate ensued. Member Rebecca Bell-Metereau claimed that although she had knowledge of Harriet Tubman being called Moses, to say that this name was in reference to Moses in the Bible was a stretch. Of course, she gave no other plausible option of any other Moses that people in the 19th century could be referring to. The motion to keep the comparison passed.
In addition to rejecting bad amendments, several positive amendments were made as well. Member Will Hickman offered an amendment to teach students about the importance of Title IX, which provided women with a right to sex-separated sports. The amendment was timely considering that a week later the U.S. Supreme Court would rule in favor of keeping women’s sports female in Little v. Hecox. Several members, including Julie Pickren and Will Hickman, made amendments to teach students the harms of Communism and Democratic Socialism. A specific amendment would require students to learn “domestic anti-communism movements, including the role of Billy Graham and the use of ‘Under God’, as a way to highlight America’s moral and spiritual foundations distinguishing the United States from atheistic communist governments”. The only member who openly debated against these amendments was Member Rebecca Bell-Metereau, who claimed that Canada and a few other countries were good examples of how Democratic Socialism was different. However, her debate did not stop the adoption of amendments teaching the harms of these types of governments.
Towards the end of the week, a post on X began floating around that the SBOE had voted to remove the Revolutionary War from the TEKS and replace it with Oprah. This claim was only partly true. It was true that earlier in the day on Wednesday, Will Hickman offered an amendment in a different section of the TEKS regarding historical figures who contributed to military, government, and businesses. The list included Condoleezza Rice, Ursula Burns, and Oprah Winfrey. In the past, Condoleezza Rice has often been removed from the TEKS due to the fact that she is a Republican and served as Secretary of State under a Republican president. The list was offered also to comply with Senate Bill 3, “The Anti-Critical Race Theory Bill”, of 2021 in order to ensure that any discussion about race does not only mention negative events such as slavery and segregation. Oprah did not receive her own individual standard. Unfortunately, it is true that at 1a.m. Thursday morning that Member Francis removed a standard from the U.S. History course regarding the American Revolution and the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The vote was 6-1, meaning that only 7 of the 15-member SBOE were present. It is also likely that it passed with many of the Republican votes not being in the room. Later, Member Audrey Young corrected the mistake by adding back the standard on the American Revolution. Member Francis admitted that his amendment was a major mistake in an attempt to streamline content. Some Democrat members even spoke of the importance of learning about the American Revolution. Since there was no objection to add the American Revolution back to the TEKS, the standard was restored without requiring a vote. While the SBOE continued to make amendments until 8p.m. on Thursday, Chairman Aaron Kinsey made a major announcement regarding the vote. Chairman Kinsey noted that the mistake regarding the American Revolution happened late at night and that the SBOE had met until 1:30 a.m. for two nights that week. To avoid further controversial mistakes, Chairman Kinsey made a motion to postpone votes on some high school courses such as American History, U.S. Government, and World History.
That said, the SBOE delivered a major victory on passing the Kindergarten through 8thgrade standards for Social Studies with a vote of 9-4. The amendments regarding Moses mentioned above and a few of the standards on the harms of Communism are included in the TEKS that passed. Additional courses that passed on Friday, June 26, included Economics with a vote of 12-0 and no amendments. The Psychology, Sociology, and Ethnic Studies courses passed among party lines. (In March, Member Julie Pickren helped remove language in the African American studies course that alluded to the 1619 project).
The SBOE will come back at a later date to finish the high school courses. Please follow Texas Values for updates.
Reading List: SBOE takes the “road less traveled” and adopts a list with Bible references, first in the nation
The section header above alludes to an amendment to remove Robert Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken” from the reading list, which was one of many contentious amendments made to the reading list that has been debated for months. As a reminder, the reading list is a requirement under a recently passed law from the 2023 session. For months, national media has disparaged the list for including Bible passages. This is not new. The Bluebonnet curriculum that passed in 2024 received similar attention from national media. Ironically, Houston ISD adopted the Bluebonnet curriculum the same week the SBOE considered the reading list. Despite much success in April, there were attempts to remove some Biblical and Christian references during the June SBOE meeting. Member Pam Little offered an amendment to remove the book “You are Special” by Christian author Max Lucado, Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken”, and Noah’s Ark. The SBOE voted in favor of keeping the book by Max Lucado with a vote of 7-6 and the SBOE moved Robert Frost’s poem to a higher grade level instead of removing it from the list. However, the story of Noah’s Ark faced a different fate. Member Little said that the story showed some animals drowned while other animals survived. She felt this was a bad story for children. Member Rebecca Bell agreed with Member Little’s claim and said that Noah’s Ark was a horrific story. The SBOE voted 9-5 to remove Noah’s Ark from the list. Immediately, a member of the Texas Values team began background work to get the SBOE to change their vote at the Friday meeting and correct this preliminary mistake. The result of our efforts was the SBOE adding in the story of Jonah and the Whale on Friday with a 9-5 vote. With the addition of Jonah and the Whale, every grade level now has a scripture or Biblical reference in the required reading list. The reading list passed with a vote of 9-5.
Conclusion
The June meeting was a success after years of planning to make sure good Social Studies standards are adopted. Parents and stakeholders can also be encouraged that the SBOE no longer shies away from teaching the significance of religious texts in both History and Literature courses. Overall, the June meeting was a major victory for faith and freedom on the eve of the 250th birthday of the United States of America.