A Texas State Board of Education vote Friday will decide whether more than 5 million public school students must follow a required reading list that includes Bible passages, with the changes set to take effect in 2030 if approved.
AUSTIN, Texas — On a Friday agenda item that could reshape classrooms across the state, the Texas State Board of Education is set to vote on whether public school students will be required to read a list of materials that includes Bible passages.
The proposal would apply to more than 5 million students in Texas public schools. The board is controlled by Republicans, and the reading list would take effect in 2030 if it is approved.
For conservatives pushing more religion into classrooms, the measure represents a long-sought effort to bring Christianity more explicitly into what students read. For critics, it’s something else: a mandated curriculum that they say blurs the line between church and state.
The required list pairs literary works such as Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” with parables from the New Testament. Education observers have been watching closely because, if approved, it would appear to be the first reading list of its kind in the nation.
Texas already has several religious policy footholds. The state allows public schools to hire chaplains to counsel students. It mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. It has also approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum.
What’s different now is that the reading list would be required, not optional.
Critics say the list lacks diversity and leaves little room for teachers and students to decide what belongs in their classrooms. Elva Mendoza, a legislative communications associate for the progressive Texas Freedom Network, warned that the message sent to children would be narrow.
“Kids of all faith backgrounds and no faith are served by Texas schools and they should all feel welcome in Texas schools,” Mendoza said. “But this is sending the message to children that one and only one religious text — a Christian one — is worthy of making this required reading list.”
Supporters see something closer to validation. Brooke Mazel, a retiree from Lubbock, encouraged the board to adopt biblical materials, saying her family’s experience shaped her view.
“America should celebrate our 250 years that started as a nation of unwavering Christian values,” Mazel said.
Beyond the Bible passages themselves, critics are fixated on what they view as an expanding pattern: Texas is not only requiring what teachers must cover, but also controlling how religion is woven into the core of reading assignments.
Teachers could still assign other books in addition to the required titles, but for critics the central issue is that the choice is no longer fully in local hands.
Texas may be a trailblazer here, too. A state law passed in 2023 required a mandatory list of at least one literary work to be taught in each grade level. The proposed new list contains around 200 texts, including Bible passages, essays and books, far exceeding that requirement.
Antero Garcia. president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a Stanford University professor. said he doesn’t know of any other state with a mandatory reading list that includes religious texts. Educators at the district and school level typically choose the texts their students will read, Garcia said.
Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, described the move as “unique” to Texas, arguing that it functions like censorship.
Such strict requirements amount to “almost de facto censorship,” Meehan said, comparing the list to book bans. “It certainly leans ideologically more conservative,” she said. “It excludes a lot of diverse voices from the reading list.”
The proposal spells out how the religious material would appear as students move through grades.
For elementary students. picture-book stories on the list include “David and Goliath” and “Daniel and the Lion’s Den.” By fourth grade. students would encounter passages about Jesus in the New Testament. By middle school. the expectations broaden to several passages about Jesus. including passages from his most famous sermon and another where he instructs people to cast aside earthly anxiety and seek the kingdom of God.
For high schoolers, the reading list requires specific Bible passages as supportive materials for literary works including Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” and Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
Some of the required pairings are also drawing attention. 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, described as a staunch conservative.
Frank Strong, an English and journalism teacher and co-founder of the student advocacy group Texas Freedom to Read, said diversity matters not only so students can see themselves in what they read, but also so they can learn about different cultures.
Mendoza said even certain early-grade selections raise questions. She pointed to the requirement for “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” for kindergartners and asked why such books must be prescribed.
“Can’t our kindergarten teachers be trusted to choose board books?” Mendoza asked.
The Friday vote is not limited to English and reading. The board is also set to vote on a social studies curriculum that links Bible stories with American history.
As the debate tightens ahead of the vote, the stakes are clear to both sides: Texas could become the first state to require Bible passages as part of a broad, grade-by-grade reading list for public school students — and set a timeline for when it would take effect in 2030.
Texas education board required reading list Bible passages church and state public schools 2030 Charles Dickens New Testament Elva Mendoza Texas Freedom Network