Texas school board mandates Bible reading for over 5 million public school students, starting in 2030

The vote

The Texas Board of Education approved a new mandatory reading list on Friday that for the first time prescribes Bible passages for all public school students. The 9-5 vote, with one member absent, means the requirement will eventually cover more than 5 million children.

“misuse public schools to impose one narrow set of religious beliefs and indoctrinate a new generation of Americans in the lie that America is a Christian country.”

What students will read

The list pairs biblical excerpts with English classics such as Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and children’s versions of Don Quixote. Fifth graders will read from Exodus; seventh graders from Psalm 23; high schoolers from Genesis, Lamentations and the New Testament. Elementary pupils will encounter picture-book versions of David and Goliath and Daniel in the lion’s den.

The state law that prompted the move, passed in 2023, obliges education officials to designate at least one literary work per grade. The board then expanded the mandate, recommending multiple texts while still allowing teachers to assign additional works.

A broader push for religion in classrooms

The new reading list follows a 2025 requirement that all classrooms display the Ten Commandments, a measure upheld by a federal appeals court earlier this year. Texas also permits school chaplains and offers an optional biblically based curriculum. The state educates roughly one in 10 public school students in the United States, giving its policies potential influence beyond its borders.

The clash over church and state

“Children of all beliefs and of no belief are served by Texas schools and all should feel welcome. But this is sending the message to children that only one religious text, a Christian one, is worthy of being on this mandatory reading list.”

Supporters insist that Judeo-Christian traditions are foundational to the country. Retiree Brooke Mazel, who encouraged the board to adopt the materials, recalled that her children and grandchildren grew up with

“a strong faith and solid family values.”

Opponents counter that the list violates the constitutional separation of church and state and lacks diversity. Critics also note that the selection leans heavily on works by white male authors in a state where more than half of public school students are Hispanic or Black.

Last year, Donald Trump pledged to “protect prayer” in public schools. Texas, long at the forefront of efforts to inject Christian teaching into education, will begin the rollout with elementary schools in 2030.