Fifth graders are reading about the Last Supper from Matthew’s Gospel. This is not a Sunday school elective that is incorporated into an after-school program. Bluebonnet Learning is the official state-authored reading curriculum.

Bluebonnet was marketed as a cross-disciplinary reading and language arts program for kindergarten through fifth grade by the Texas Education Agency, which created the materials. The idea of using rich, culturally relevant stories to promote literacy was fairly simple. However, parents, academics, and legal professionals nationwide weren’t persuaded that the pitch provided all the information.

Researchers have referred to the curriculum as “Bible-infused” without much exaggeration because it heavily draws from Christian scripture. It treats Christian narratives with a depth and frequency that suggests, when read as a whole, a specific religious hierarchy, covers Judaism almost entirely through its ancient biblical period, and mentions Islam and Hinduism only in passing.

By a vote of eight to six, the Texas State Board of Education approved the materials in late 2024. You can learn something just from that margin. Citing issues ranging from age-appropriateness to alignment with state academic standards, three Republicans defied their party and joined all four Democrats in opposing it. Nevertheless, it was approved by the majority.

Districts that choose to implement the curriculum will receive sixty dollars per student in state funding beginning in the 2025–2026 school year. This financial incentive is difficult to ignore when schools are already overburdened.

It’s difficult to ignore the timing. The introduction of Bluebonnet into classrooms coincided with a broader national movement by Christian nationalist and conservative groups to integrate the Bible into public education. In 2024, the education secretary of Oklahoma required Bible instruction in public schools. Several state legislatures have considered proposals mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms.

Mayes Middleton, a state senator from Texas, told colleagues unequivocally that “there is no such thing as separation of church and state in our Constitution” as he introduced a bill requiring Bible reading and prayer in schools. It’s amazing that a sitting legislator would say that aloud. It’s unclear if he is acting for an audience or if he truly believes it, but the sentiment is gaining institutional traction.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which forbids the government from supporting or promoting a specific religion, is the fundamental constitutional issue at the heart of all of this. Bible content remained in optional high school electives rather than required elementary reading programs for decades in Texas public schools.

Critics claim that Bluebonnet’s actions are essentially different. It takes a sacred text from one community and incorporates it into the curriculum of five-year-olds in classrooms supported by taxpayers of all faiths. Attorney Staci Childs, a Democrat from Houston who serves on the board, stated unequivocally that she thought a lawsuit contesting the curriculum on the basis of the Establishment Clause would probably be successful.

Cultural literacy is a valid educational objective, and those who support the curriculum are not wholly incorrect. Knowing the identity of Moses, comprehending the Good Samaritan parable, and appreciating the significance of the Last Supper are, in fact, examples of cultural context that can be found in Western literature, art, and history.

Whether Christianity has influenced American culture is not the question. Clearly, it has. The question is whether the sacred stories of one tradition should be taught as the main lens through which young readers encounter the world in a public school system that serves children from all backgrounds, while Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam are mentioned in passing. That’s a whole other matter.

And there’s the issue of mistakes. Depending on who you believe, the state board authorized between 1,900 and 4,000 corrections following Bluebonnet’s first year of instruction. To put it simply, even a typo in a math equation can have repercussions, according to board member Tiffany Clark. “If we have been teaching incorrectly, this is going to have an impact.”

The majority of the changes, according to the agency’s spokesperson, were either minor, proactive, or grammatical. Perhaps. However, the volume is hard to explain away, especially for a curriculum that came under as much scrutiny as Bluebonnet. You would think something created under such intense public scrutiny would be impenetrable.

The Bible-based curriculum in Texas is no longer limited to the state. It’s a test case that might establish a precedent for the extent to which states can regulate the definition of religion in public schools. In its first year of availability, about 25% of Texas’s districts adopted it.

The legal challenge that Childs warned about becomes more likely if that number rises. Additionally, Texas won’t be the only state impacted by the ruling if the courts weigh in. Every state where comparable initiatives are subtly progressing will be impacted. The battle is just getting started.

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