More than five million Texas public school students will be required to read passages from the Bible after the state’s Republican-controlled education board voted to add biblical selections to a new mandatory statewide reading list.
The Texas State Board of Education approved the required literature list in a 9-5 vote on Friday following days of heated debate over Christianity’s role in public education.
The reading list stems from a 2023 state law requiring at least one literary work be taught at every grade level. The board ultimately approved roughly 200 texts, including books, essays and Bible passages.
The new curriculum will be used in public schools across Texas, which educates more than five million students, or roughly one in 10 public school students nationwide.
Elementary students will read Bible stories including Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lion’s Den and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Older students will study the Beatitudes, selections from the Book of Exodus and biblical passages alongside works by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.
Supporters said the Bible belongs on the list because of its historical and literary significance.
Texas orders public schools to make Bible passages required reading for more than 5 million students
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