The Texas Education Agency drafted the new teaching materials under a state law.
A state legislator on Monday suggested the Texas Education Agency removed references to Islam and bolstered mentions of Christian ity in a new state-written curriculum that public schools could be incentivized to use in their classrooms.
In a House Public Education Committee hearing, state Rep. James Talarico said the materials presented Bible stories as straightforward facts that could confuse young kids or alienate children of non-Christian faiths. He noted that a previous definition in state-approved curricula for the word messiah described it as “a savior predicted by ancient Hebrews and believed by Christians to be Jesus,” while the new lesson plans say “Messiah” is a “savior sent by God.” RELATED: TEA unveils 100,000 pages of ready-made lesson plans for use in Texas classrooms “I can tell you there’s a difference between teaching and preaching. In my reading, they are preaching,” said Talarico, an Austin Democrat who used to be a public school teacher and is now studying to become a Christian pastor. “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,” he added. The Texas Education Agency drafted the new teaching materials under a state law adopted last year that passed with bipartisan support amid concerns that teachers aren’t given enough support to plan lessons. The agency’s commissioner, Mike Morath, told committee members the state lessons focused on teaching children to read, and the references to Christianity were only included to provide additional vocabulary and context for students, rather than to proselytize. Initial data shows that students who piloted curriculum similar to the agency’s new K-5 Reading & Language Arts lesson plans, which were first published in May, have performed better on state standardized tests than other students, Morath said. According to figures provided by TEA to Hearst Newspapers earlier this year, around 10% of the reading and language arts lessons include religious source material, not including Greek or Roman mythological deities or Native American religions. Examples include the role of Jesus in articulating the “Golden Rule” or the influence of the teachings of the Bible on Martin Luther King Jr. Morath appeared before the committee on Monday to discuss the implementation of the curriculum bill and to update lawmakers on school enrollment, funding and other issues. His public defense of the lesson plans came as the State Board of Education is set to weigh in on them. Under the law, if the board approves the agency’s lesson plans as “high quality instructional materials,” schools will be given extra state funding when they use them. The SBOE will hold public hearings about the lesson plans at their meeting next month and will vote on them later this year. Sitting alongside Morath on Monday was SBOE Chair Aaron Kinsey, a Midland Republican, who spoke about the need for high quality instructional materials and thanked Morath for his work. READ MORE: Where’s the line between church and state? In Texas charter schools, it’s fading The TEA lesson plans are likely to provoke intense debate at the board. The Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning watchdog group that frequently advocates at the SBOE, announced last week it had commissioned a study that found the lesson plans “violates religious freedom of Texas public school students.” Teachers unions have opposed the law empowering the state-written lesson plans, warning it could restrict the creativity of good teachers and give too much power to TEA. Just days before the state agency published the plans in May, the Texas GOP included in its platform a policy that would require the state’s public schools to provide Bible lessons. Some Republicans on the Texas House committee on Monday applauded the references to Christianity. “The world’s major religions did not have an equal impact on the founding belief systems for our country, they did not have an equal impact on the American and Texas legal system,” said Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Tyler Republican. “I don’t think we should ever be ashamed of mentioning the name of Jesus in our curriculum or shying away from the role of Christianity in developing this country, developing Western civilization.”
Texas Freedom Network GOP State Board Of Education Public Education Committee SBOE Non-Christian Hearst Newspapers Golden Rule Texas House James Talarico Mike Morath Jesus Democrat Aaron Kinsey Matt Schaefer Hebrews God Tyler Republican Christian Native American Martin Luther King Jr Texas Reading K-5 Austin Greek American Western Midland Christianity Islam Roman SBOE Bible
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