The Texas State Board of Education this past week approved a required reading list that includes Bible passages despite critics who say the titles lack diversity and blur the separation of church and state.
Supporters say Judeo-Christian traditions were fundamental to the nation's founding and that should be reflected in the public school curriculum.
The move would mandate literary works such as Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations' alongside passages from the New Testament and is a departure from allowing schools or teachers to decide what students read.
The program rollout will begin in 2030 with elementary school students. The plan will impact more than 5 million public school students.
Texas has been at the forefront to incorporate more religion into classrooms. The state also allows public schools to hire chaplains to counsel students, mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and has approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum.
Critics say the reading list, which can be found on the TEA website, blurs the separation of church and state and leaves teachers and students with little room to decide what to read.
A state law passed in 2023 required a mandatory list of at least one literary work be taught in each grade level. The new list contains around 200 texts, including Bible passages, essays and books.
The list mandates that students reading Shakespeare's 'The Tragedy of Julius Caesar' also read a eulogy for President Ronald Reagan written by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and will also heavily emphasize classic literature and historic American texts such as Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address.”
The state school board also approved a rewrite of the state’s social studies curriculum, focusing more on Texas and US history.