Texas to Require Assigned Bible Reading for 5 Million Public School Students

The Texas State Board of Education recently voted to become the first state in the U.S. to add Bible passages to required reading lists for over 5 million students in public school classrooms.

Children in fourth grade and up will be required to read at least one Bible passage per year, the board decided with a vote of 9-5. Recommended passages include excerpts from the Gospels, the book of Job and Old Testament stories such as Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel and David and Goliath.

High school students will be exposed to selected biblical passages in conjunction with other assigned reading, such as 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s famous writing on love, paired with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The state-mandated curriculum will be implemented in the 2030-2031 school year. 

David Closson, director of the center for biblical worldview at Family Research Council, applauded Texas’ new public school mandates on X: 

Lubbock resident Dawn Hatley stated, “When we teach classical literature and social studies with biblical foundations, we are not simply preserving great books, we’re helping raise young men and women who love truth, pursue wisdom and recognize God’s hand throughout history and human experience.”

Other recent changes to Texas’ public school curriculum include modifying K-8 curriculum to reinforce personal financial literacy, the downsides of communism, Western values and American history. 

These curriculum adjustments reflect Senate Bill 24 of the 89th Texas Legislature and Texas House Bills 27 and 824. These laws require public school classrooms to teach the consequences of communism, add a half-credit requirement for personal financial literacy classes and provide specific civic instruction in high school government courses. 

Other lesson modifications will introduce biblical figures in conjunction with historical events. For example, elements of Moses’ story in Exodus will be introduced alongside Harriet Tubman, who was nicknamed “Moses” due to her efforts in helping people escape slavery. 

Although Texas parents can choose to opt their children out of new curriculum changes, state education officials warned that such information could still appear on tests. 

Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser condemned the Board’s vote, calling the curriculum changes “yet another example of Texas politicians pushing Christianity on public schoolchildren.” 

Laser further warned that the updated curriculum would “impose one narrow set of beliefs and indoctrinate a new generation of Americans in the lie that America is a Christian country.”

However, Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education Aaron Kinsey praised the vote on X, writing:

This vote follows Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s 2025 mandate, signed Senate Bill 10, to require public schools to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. 

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Ten Commandments Can Remain in Texas Classrooms

Court Rules Louisiana Schools Can Post 10 Commandments in Classrooms

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