The Bible Wins at Texas Education Board: A Brief Recap
Last week, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted 8-7 to approve an English Language Arts curriculum that has references to the Bible. The Bluebonnet Learning materials, which are a part of the new adoption process under HB 1605, 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.
At the September 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. Despite other textbooks for other subjects beings discussed, the majority if not all of the testimony, at both the September meeting and the meeting last week 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
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.
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.
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 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.
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. A more detailed blog of the entire week of the SBOE meeting will be posted in the future.