TEXAS MAKES BIBLE PASSAGES REQUIRED READING FOR STUDENTS

The Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education gave final approval on June 26, 2026, to a statewide required reading list that puts Bible passages in front of more than 5 million public school students. The list grew out of a 2023 state law, and supporters argued that “Judeo-Christian traditions played a central role in the country’s founding” and belong in classrooms, the Guardian reported.

Opponents said the list breaches the constitutional separation of church and state, lacks diversity and gives Christianity preference over other faiths.

What the list requires

The 2023 law told education officials to designate at least one literary work for every grade level. The board went past that minimum and recommended multiple texts for each grade.

The Associated Press reported that the list includes around 200 texts, including Bible passages, essays and books. Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations” is on it, along with excerpts from the New Testament.

The Texas Tribune reported that Bible material shows up across the grades, including the stories of Adam and Eve, the Beatitudes and the Prodigal Son. The board approved the reading lists alongside changes to social studies lessons.

Excerpts from Jonah and Psalms become required beginning in seventh grade, the Guardian reported. High schoolers get excerpts from Genesis and Lamentations, among other passages.

Teachers can still assign books outside the list, but those do not replace the required selections. The rollout is staggered and starts with elementary students in 2030.

Critics also objected to the list’s lean toward older works, many by white male authors, in a state where more than half of public school students are Hispanic or Black, the Guardian reported. Texas educates roughly one in 10 public school students in the country, and last year it became the largest state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom.

Months of debate, then a vote

The Texan reported that the board approved the list 9–5 after months of argument. About 170 people signed up to testify on June 22, and the public testimony ran more than eight hours, The Texan reported. It also said the list TEA released in January held roughly 300 titles.

On June 18, 2026, 46 Democratic legislators wrote a letter calling the list “drawn exclusively from one faith tradition, with significant gaps in cultural representation,” according to The Texan’s description of the letter.

Board member Perez-Diaz told The Texan the process unfolded “in a way that I’ve never seen in my 13 years on this board.” Perez-Diaz said it “has the feeling of politics over policy for students.”

Teachers objected to the workload and to the loss of local control and autonomy, The Texan reported. Board member Staci Childs told the outlet that teachers will “respond in a mightier way” once they see what is required.

Where the rule stands

The Texas Education Agency published the adopted rule on September 4, 2026. It records public comments objecting to compulsory religious content and raising church-state and inclusion concerns, including worries that required Christian texts could displace diverse, culturally representative literature. The board rejected requests to remove or reconsider the religious texts, citing a state requirement for instruction in religious literature and its impact on literature and history.

On September 22, 2026, the Texas State Board of Education posted an adopted high-school literary-works rule. It says required works are to be read in their entirety unless otherwise indicated, and it treats the listed works as a minimum, so additional works can be chosen locally.

The rule also lets a parent temporarily remove a child from instruction in a required work that conflicts with the parent’s religious or moral beliefs. The parent has to give the teacher a written statement.

As of October 28, 2026, the state’s adopted-rules page still listed the new literary-works rules as not yet effective.