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The Texas Board of Education is continuing to work on the required reading list for the 2030–31 school year, but the process of finalizing the list has been significantly delayed after the original proposed list faced major pushback during 10 hours of public testimony.
Much of the pushback centered on the fact that the proposed list included multiple biblical passages, which some claimed is a violation of the First Amendment and the concept of separation of church and state.
Many called for neutrality to be maintained by either removing the biblical references or including religious texts from other faiths.
Education expert Dr. Carole Haynes pushed back against this, saying: “We are not teaching a religious course to the students—that is not allowed. But what is allowed is teaching the background, the history, the literature.”
She asserts that because Christian faith and principles have been foundational to Western society—and to the founding of the United States—these specific biblical passages should continue to be included.
Dr. Haynes says all of this is one big stonewalling effort by those who simply don’t think the current proposed list is “woke” enough—and that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. “In 2024, when we had the Bluebonnet Curriculum testimony, they did the same thing then,” she explained. “They wanted to kick out any biblical references.”
She believes this is all part of an effort to slow-walk the approval of the reading list until just before the deadline, thereby forcing a compromise on content. She then warned against this, saying: “The goal is to indoctrinate children, and they can’t indoctrinate with this list as it stands now. They’ve got to water it down, they’ve got to make changes—and heaven help us with what they may put in there.”