AUSTIN, TEXAS — The Texas State Board of Education granted preliminary approval on June 23, 2026, to a reading list for public schools that includes Christian stories. The board also began debating a rewrite of social studies lessons that emphasizes Texas and U.S. history while reducing focus on world history outside European traditions.

Final votes on both proposals are scheduled for June 26, 2026. If approved, the standards would take effect during the 2030-31 school year. The reading list requires teaching Bible material to students from age 6 through high school graduation, including stories about Adam and Eve, the Beatitudes, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Elementary students would encounter picture-book stories such as "Noah's Ark," "David and Goliath," and "Daniel and the Lion's Den." The plan specifies the King James Bible, the English Standard Version, and the New International Readers Version for readings. Lamentations Chapter 3 is the only scriptural reference from the Tanakh included in the list.

The social studies proposal eliminates the current sixth-grade world cultures course. It removes existing standards requiring students to understand "the impact of race and ethnicity on society" and to "analyze the varying treatment patterns of minority groups." During board meetings in April, a standard requiring students to learn about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy was removed. One lesson describes the forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese families during World War II as a "contribution" to America's military effort. The proposal lists Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Jordan, and Hector P. Garcia as Civil Rights Movement leaders, but does not include Martin Luther King Jr.

Nearly 500 people registered to testify at a hearing on June 22, where at least one individual was removed after the board chair deemed them out of order. "These proposed standards actually defy the Constitution and highlight only one group of Americans as the founders who built this country to the exclusion of others — both in the past and in the present," Ruth Nasrullah said. Board members debated, but did not pass, proposals to prohibit teachers from assigning non-state-mandated books without parental review or to grant charter schools flexibility in when to introduce required readings.

"The minute you use a textual translation of a book that is shared across religious traditions, as the Hebrew Bible is - but you're choosing a translation that was created in a particular religious context - you're inevitably going to privilege certain kinds of Christian understandings of that text," David Holland, a Harvard Divinity School professor, said. Chad Seales, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, stated, "Any time compulsory religion happens in public education, it's going to lead to divisiveness." Frank Strong, a teacher and co-founder of Texas Freedom to Read, added, "I do think that it's disturbing that there are no texts from other religious traditions that are included."