Public schools are not Sunday schools! We’ve been telling the religious right in Texas this for almost 30 years. But their disregard for the separation of church and state and their love of pushing religious agendas in our public schools seem to know no bounds. Wouldn’t it be nice if our state’s leaders could find a passion for fully funding our public schools and quit trying to use our students as political pawns?
Texas Representative James Talarico, a former public school teacher, future Christian pastor, and TFN’s 2024 Faith & Justice Award recipient, shares the same dream.
Under federal law, schools can teach the Bible as an academic text, but not in a devotional way. In other words, public schools are not Sunday schools.”
Texas Representative James Talarico
“Under federal law, schools can teach the Bible as an academic text, but not in a devotional way. In other words, public schools are not Sunday schools,” remarked Talarico during a recent Texas House Public Education Committee hearing on vouchers where members began discussing a new state-developed curriculum with Bible-infused lessons.
Vouchers and Christian-centric curriculums in public schools are inextricably linked. While vouchers would steal our public tax dollars from students in our neighborhood schools and give them to private and religious schools that do not have to serve every Texas child, these lessons seek to dismantle public education from the inside by directly violating the separation of church and state that should be preserved in our public schools.
Again, we agree with Representative Talarico:
PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE NOT SUNDAY SCHOOLS
We agree so fervently that the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund commissioned Dr. David Brockman, a religious studies scholar, Christian theologian, and Nonresident Scholar in Religion & Public Policy with Rice University’s Baker Institute, to conduct a neutral, independent examination of the new educational materials created by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
How can Texas use Bible-infused lessons in the Reading, Language, And Arts Curriculum for K-5 public school students?
Earlier this year, the TEA released a new state-developed curriculum infused with stories from the Bible. The curriculum was created as an open education resource (OER) for K-5 public school students after the passage of HB 1605, which gives the SBOE and state leaders increased power to insert religious and political agendas into public school curriculums.
While school districts aren’t required to use state-developed OER materials, there is a financial incentive to use them—up to $40 per student in additional funding. Imagine if our state’s leaders just gave public schools the funding they desperately need without requiring educators to violate the religious freedom of our students!
Dr. Brockman and Texas Freedom Network Education Fund’s report has 5 key findings:
1. The proposed curriculum places far too much emphasis on Christianity and the Bible. It offers very limited coverage or none at all of the other major religions and faith traditions students are likely to encounter in American society.
Students learn a whole lot about Christianity and the Bible—about the biblical Creation and Flood stories, the wisdom of King Solomon, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, the life and miracles of Jesus, the Last Supper, and the apostle Paul. Other religions get far less coverage, if any.
2. One-sided portrayals of Christianity and its impact whitewash difficult historical truths.
For example, the 5th grade curriculum, discussing the lead-up to the Civil War, positions Christianity entirely on the side of the antislavery movement and racial justice. In fact, Southerners who defended slavery and racism often did so on biblical grounds.
3. Lessons subtly portray Christian faith claims as straightforwardly true, opening the curriculum to the charge that it is meant to proselytize students.
For example, the 3rd grade curriculum in particular presents stories about Jesus’s miracles and resurrection as if they are straightforwardly historical. Even Christians disagree over whether the biblical stories about Jesus’ miracles are to be taken as literal fact.
4. The authors appear to go out of their way to work detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted.
Example: In a Kindergarten unit that is ostensibly about art appreciation, the text devotes an entire lesson to the Creation and Flood stories from the biblical book of Genesis, and then quizzes students on the order in which things were created.
5. Though religious freedom is vital to American democracy, the curriculum distorts its role in the nation’s founding while underplaying the importance of other fundamental liberties cherished by Americans.
Who wrote this curriculum?
We wish we knew! Even State Board of Education (SBOE) members are saying they have no idea who wrote this curriculum.
“Who are the people that sat down in this fancy room and said this is the knowledge that every Texas student should have?” asked Staci Childs, a Democrat on the board. “I just don’t think that it’s fair to have that many biblical references in the text in public schools across the state.”
And it’s not just the Democrats on the Board asking questions.
“I did not get a lot of my questions answered when it came to who wrote the curriculum,” quipped Evelyn Brooks, a Republican board member, when recounting how TEA responded to questions about the curriculum’s authors.
Pat Hardy, another conservative Board member, has also been outspoken about the political and religious agendas present in these lessons. “They’re going to appeal to the Christian nationalists with their Bible stories. They’re just trying to gather votes,” she commented.
As if keeping SBOE members in the dark wasn’t shady enough, the curriculum’s advisory board highlights the national implications of these Bible-infused lessons.
Pushing a one-sided religious agenda in our public schools is part of a coordinated strategy to plunge our country backward. The authors of Project 2025—the radical political blueprint for a second Trump administration—have even stated they’d dismantle the Department of Education, eliminate rights for LGBTQIA+ communities, and much more if given the power.
Just what does this curriculum have in common with Project 2025? Ben Carson, former Republican presidential candidate and an author of Project 2025 sits on the HB 1605 OER Advisory Panel for the curriculum, along with other right-wing operatives. Just one of the 10 appointees on the panel is an education specialist from one of the state’s public universities.
What happens with the curriculum now? How can I tell the SBOE that public schools are not Sunday schools?
Let us be clear: Our kids in Texas public schools deserve better. They deserve the freedom to learn, without political and religious agendas controlling their curriculums, regardless of their zip code, the color of their skin, immigration status, or if they or their family are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The SBOE will hear public comments and consider the approval of the K-5 curriculum this September, with a final vote coming in November.
If members of the State Board of Education truly believe in religious freedom and parental rights, they must reject this curriculum when it comes up for a vote in November.
YOU can be a powerful voice for religious freedom and Texas students by attending the meeting in September and testifying! Learn how and join our movement to teach the truth at www.tfn.org/teachthetruth.
