SAN ANTONIO – Districts across San Antonio and Texas are considering whether to adopt new state-approved teaching materials that have sparked controversy for being “Bible-infused.”
The South San Antonio Independent School District recently adopted the “Bluebonnet Learning” curriculum that was approved by the State Board of Education late last year.
Several other school districts in the San Antonio area told KSAT they adopted the math portion of the curriculum or don’t plan to adopt it at all. (Read about each school district below.)
Districts that choose the K-5th-grade curriculum receive $60 per student each year from the state to buy the instructional materials. The Texas Legislature passed the system in 2023.
Critics, including First Amendment advocates, worry that the curriculum blurs a line between teaching about religious literature and promoting a religion — with an incentive that could persuade cash-strapped districts.
Texas law requires that public school curriculums include basic academic subjects such as: math, language arts and reading. It also requires the teaching of “religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature.”
However, the U.S. Constitution draws a line at endorsing one particular religion.
Last month, a group of parents and advocates gathered at Trinity University to protest Bluebonnet Learning in public schools. One parent said she was “horrified that this was something people thought was a good idea.”
“I am a Christian and I often find myself fighting against ‘Christian ideas’ that cast themselves as solutions to problems that don’t exist, and this again is another one,” Cameron Vickrey said.
Where does the Bible come in?
The Texas Education Agency’s Associate Commissioner of Instructional Strategy, Todd Davis, told KSAT multiple religions are included in Bluebonnet.
“The material is not intended to force any single religion,” Davis said. “It’s not intended to prophesize. It’s intended to build...our students’ literary, cultural and historic knowledge.”
Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the curriculum is “Bible-infused.”
“The way it teaches from the Bible can definitely induce our children into believing that...the Bible is truth,” Laser said.
However, the TEA said, “there is no religious instruction in Bluebonnet Learning.”
You can see the entire curriculum and lesson plans for yourself. They’re published online.
KSAT reviewed dozens of pages of the teaching materials that reference the Bible.
For example, the reading-language arts portion for kindergarteners includes lessons about the Golden Rule, the Good Samaritan, King Solomon and the Book of Genesis.
See below for examples.
How are San Antonio districts using Bluebonnet?
KSAT reached out to 16 school districts in the greater San Antonio area.
When KSAT spoke with South San ISD’s Superintendent Dr. Saul Hinojosa last month, he said the district will conduct an “audit” to decide how to implement the curriculum.
Dr. Hinojosa said if something is “inappropriate” or presents a religious point of view, the district would remove it from the curriculum.
>>> South San ISD to implement new learning curriculum this fall
- East Central ISD and Edgewood ISD said they adopted the math portion of the curriculum.
- Judson ISD says the district discussed recommending the math portion, but has not taken the item for board approval yet.
- Lackland ISD says it “has not adopted any curriculum thus far.”
- Southside ISD says “the district will continue to review all curriculum options including the Bluebonnet Curriculum available for next year. The determination will be made by the curriculum committee once the evaluation review has been completed.”
- Alamo Heights ISD, Floresville ISD, La Vernia ISD, Northside ISD, Northeast ISD and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, says they are not planning on implementing Bluebonnet.
(This story will be updated as more districts respond to KSAT’s inquiry.)
According to the TEA, Bluebonnet Learning materials adhere to both state and federal standards.
“So the presence of Jesus, the presence of the Bible in the materials is only positioned in a way to help build better context to the text or stories,” said Davis.
Laser, however, is worried some of the teachings could confuse students.
“All the signs point to this being a curriculum that favors Christianity and that veers on Bible study,” Laser said. “It should give every proud Texan and every proud American real concern and pause, because it’s in contradiction to the guarantee of church-state separation, which protects religious freedom for all of us.”
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