Texas Board Of Education Moves Forward With Bible-Infused Curriculum

A blow to the First Amendment in Texas classrooms as Greg Abbott’s unelected ally casts deciding vote.

Nov 19, 2024

After eight hours of public testimony yesterday regarding the Bluebonnet Learning Curriculum, which incorporates Christian lessons from the Bible as early as kindergarten, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) moved forward today with implementing these lessons in Texas public schools in August 2025.

This morning, the full SBOE sifted through their list of over 140 vendors, which they will approve on Friday. SBOE member Marisa B. Perez-Diaz offered an amendment to remove the Christian indoctrination curriculum, which failed 7 to 8 votes. The final vote on all new vendors, including Bluebonnet Learning, will take place Friday, but it seems the good guys don’t have the numbers to block it right now.

Here are the SBOE members who voted to trample on Texas students’ constitutional rights and force-feed them Christian ideology, beginning at age five. (Links go to their contact information pages.)

LJ Francis (R-SBOE02)
Leslie Recine (R-SBOE13)
Tom Maynard (R-SBOE10)
Keven Ellis (R-SBOE09)
Audrey Young (R-SBOE08)
Julie Pickren (R-SBOE07)
Will Hickman (R-SBOE06)
Aaron Kinsey (R-SBOE15)

Not sure who your SBOE member is? Find out here.

How did this happen?

Aicha Davis, the former SBOE member for District 13, resigned earlier this year to run for Texas House District 109, a race she won. The governor has the authority to appoint a member to a vacant seat until the newly elected member can be sworn in for their term in January. Gov. Greg Abbott has chosen to exercise this power, and on Nov. 1, announced that Leslie Recine will serve for exactly one meeting on the SBOE (that’s this week’s meeting, which lasts all week). Recine is a long-time Republican consultant and fundraiser with no direct experience with public education.

In other words, Greg Abbott appointed Recine the deciding vote on implementing Christian Nationalism in Texas public schools.

If you notice on the link above for Recine, her email and phone number are the general number and email to the SBOE. She doesn’t have a direct number or email to contact her at.

So, not only is she unelected, her constituents have no way of reaching her. Unless you want to reach out to her on her:

Regardless, this is not how a democracy functions. Unelected bureaucrats are not supposed to implement Christian Nationalism in Texas schools.

It’s just gross and un-American.

Now what?

The only way to kill this right-wing religious indoctrination is to bombard the eight members who voted to keep it in the curriculum from now until Friday when they vote on it. Maybe one of them will change their minds. But after eight hours of testimony yesterday, it isn’t very likely.

When this curriculum passes on Friday, we expect a flurry of lawsuits, suing the SBOE for violating the Establishment Clause (separation of church and state).

Hopefully, this curriculum will be stopped in the courts. If not, the ISDs will have the choice of whether or not to implement it; we should expect to see it implemented in rural school districts, especially. However, it’ll only be optional until the Texas Legislature makes it mandatory, which could happen as soon as 2025.

Did you know that fascist movements in history often used religious themes and rhetoric to consolidate power, enforce cultural homogeneity, and suppress dissent? While fascism is not inherently tied to religion, it frequently co-opts religious ideologies to justify authoritarian rule and gain popular support.

Trump, Abbott, and the Republican members of the SBOE have all embraced fascism. What are you going to do to stop it?

Here is what you can do right now:

Contact the SBOE members. Flood their inboxes and phone lines. Politely but firmly demand that they reject the Bluebonnet Learning Curriculum and respect the constitutional separation of church and state. Even if the vote seems inevitable, your voice matters. Persistent public pressure can make a difference.
Support legal challenges. If this curriculum is approved, lawsuits will almost certainly be filed. These legal battles will be expensive; organizations defending constitutional rights need resources. (I’ll update you on who and when these lawsuits are filed.)
Organize locally. Start conversations in your community, especially with parents, teachers, and local school board members. If enough parents and educators oppose this curriculum, many districts will have the power to reject it.
Vote in every single election. This is a long game. The SBOE is an elected body, and most of its members are up for re-election in 2026. Start organizing to support pro-public education and pro-democracy candidates who will defend students’ rights.
Hold Greg Abbott accountable. Greg Abbott’s calculated appointment of Leslie Recine is just the latest in his pattern of authoritarian overreach. Use this as a rallying cry to organize against his policies and candidates aligned with his agenda.

This isn’t just about a curriculum. It’s about the slow erosion of constitutional freedoms and the imposition of a specific religious ideology on public institutions. It’s about silencing dissent and marginalizing those who don’t adhere to the dominant faith.

If this curriculum moves forward, it sets a dangerous precedent for Texas and the nation. What’s next? Mandatory prayer in schools? Science classes that teach creationism instead of evolution? Books banned because they don’t align with Christian nationalist ideology?

We’ve seen where this road leads. History warns us that when governments merge religion with the state, personal freedoms erode, diversity is crushed, and dissent is punished.

The fight against fascism isn’t just fought in courts or legislatures but in classrooms, libraries, and school board meetings. It’s fought by ordinary people like you standing up for what’s right.

We can still turn this around. Let’s get to work.