Despite Pushback, Texas Advances Controversial Social Studies Curriculum

Despite heavy criticism from Texas students, educators, historian associations, civil rights organizations, and their own content advisors, the Republican-majority Texas State Board of Education voted on Friday, April 10, to give first approval to a controversial draft of the new social studies curriculum to be taught in public school classrooms across the state, starting the 2030-2031 school year.

This initial approval advances the social studies curriculum draft toward the board’s deciding vote in June to finalize the standards.

Critics have said the draft’s proposed changes to the current social studies curriculum plan (called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS) over-emphasize Texas history and “heroes” over U.S. and world history, exclude aspects of Native American, Black, and Mexican American history and civil rights movements, and center Christianity over other world religions. 

“This is ensuring that Texas students are ignorant about the broader world, and it’s going to put them at a serious disadvantage when they compete with students from other states down the road,” Rocío Fierro-Pérez, political director for the Texas Freedom Network, told the Chronicle.

The inclusion of biblical references or passages into public school curriculum and the English Language Arts required reading list used statewide (which could possibly inform the STAAR test) has been a priority for the 10 conservative board members, who voted to approve the TEKS while the five Democratic members consistently voted in opposition.

“This is ensuring that Texas students are ignorant about the broader world.”

Rocío Fierro-Pérez, political director for the Texas Freedom Network

“It is my opinion that we are blurring the separation between Church and State intended by the country’s founders and violating the First Amendment of the Constitution which prohibits the formation of a national religion,” Kate Rogers, one of the nine content advisors appointed by the SBOE to advise the curriculum review, wrote in her March feedback on the draft.

Testifiers and Rogers also expressed concern that the TEKS require educators to teach too much material within a single grade level. “We are trying to force more than 100 pounds of content into a 50-pound bag in terms of instructional time,” Rogers continued.

The board also debated how to teach about Islam, ultimately striking out mention of the Quran and Muslim contributions to science and historical events. Texan Muslim testifiers also reported feeling unheard and mistreated last week, including one Muslim student activist, Ayaan Moledina, who told the Chronicle he was harassed in the hallway before testifying.

“I’ve been Muslim my entire life. Never once have I been taught to hate America,” Moledina said. “They were saying, ‘You’re not Christian, you’re not going to be saved, you’re not going to heaven, you’re going to hell.’”

“The contempt that the board members have for religious freedom was really on full display last week, especially in the way they treated Muslim testifiers,” Fierro-Pérez, who also testified last week, confirmed.

Other content advisors for the curriculum review include David Barton, founder of the organization WallBuilders, which promotes its belief to educators and lawmakers that the U.S. is meant to be a Christian nation and the separation of church and state is a myth, “so that future generations can learn and value America’s incredible Christian history.”

Another is Donald Frazier, director of the Texas Center at Schreiner University, which teaches “the true history of Texas.” According to 2024 tax documents first obtained by CBS, the Texas Center was paid $70,000 by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative policy organization, for “the development of TEKS standards.” UT-Austin professor Robert Koons, another content advisor, has also been a senior fellow at the TPPF.

Before Friday’s voting meeting took place, all five Democratic members of the SBOE called for a pause of the TEKS review and an independent investigation into the conditions of the cash grant to Frazier. “The failure to disclose this funding to the entire SBOE is deeply troubling, raises serious ethical concerns, and casts doubt over the integrity of the entire review process,” the members wrote in a joint letter.

Education activists like Orlando Lara, co-founder of the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas, also called on April 8 for a pause to what many have called a rushed TEKS review process: “What is to stop future organizations from funding content advisors to ‘write TEKS’ and, in effect, buying influence in an already complicated and contentious, taxpayer-funded process?”

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