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The Texas Board of Education narrowly voted Friday to allow Bible-based curriculum in elementary schools. Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than 5 million students in Texas public schools. Staci Childs, who is an attorney and a Democrat who voted against the Bible curriculum at Friday's hearing, said she believes it will be challenged in court. The new Texas curriculum follows Republican-led efforts in neighboring states to give religion more of a presence in public schools. The Texas Education Agency, which oversees public education for students statewide, created its instruction materials after a law passed in 2023 by the GOP-controlled Legislature required the agency to do so.

Persons: Greg Abbott, Staci Childs, Matthew Patrick Shaw, ”, Mary Castle Organizations: Texas, of Education, Texas State, Republicans, Republican Gov, Republican, Vanderbilt University, The Texas Education Agency, GOP Locations: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana

☆ Texas Bluebonnet curriculum: Officials to vote on state lessons that emphasize Christian Bible lessons
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Officials in Texas are set to vote Tuesday on a new public school curriculum that incorporates lessons from the Bible as early as kindergarten, that provoked criticism from advocacy groups and families across the state. The state Board of Education will vote on revisions to its K-5 reading and English language arts materials, part of Bluebonnet Learning, the Texas Education Agency-developed open education resources. We don’t leave Texans behind.”Ghani also argued that Texas public school teachers are already “overburdened” with the amount of material they’re expected to teach. “But inserting faith-based lessons into public school classrooms, which sounds like what is intended here, is not the study of history or literature. The legislature has also pushed to require that public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments.

Persons: Bill, Jesus, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, ”, Mark Chancey, “, Barbara Baruch, “ Don’t, Jonathan Covey, Glenn Melvin, Vitale, ” Melvin, ” David Brockman, –, ” Brockman, Shariq Ghani, don’t, ” Ghani, ’ Charles Haynes, Robert Pondiscio, Greg Abbott Organizations: CNN, Education, Texas Education Agency, Texas AFT, Southern Methodist University, Texas, US, Engel, Texas Freedom Network, “, Foundation, Texans, Freedom, Association of Religion Data, American Enterprise Institute, Republican Locations: Texas, Rome, Roman, “ Texas, The74, Oklahoma, Louisiana

☆ How the Houston teacher certification scheme worked
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-03 | by ( Ramon Sanchez | Ray Sanchez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —Robert “Boo Lee” Williams was still seething days after a popular basketball coach and two assistant principals at Houston’s first two historically Black high schools were arrested in an alleged teacher certification scheme. “In fact, when he was caught red-handed in February of 2024 he was logged into one test,” Levine said. A pattern of long drives helps unravel schemeHarris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, left, and felony chief prosecutor Mike Levine announce arrests in teacher certification scheme. They then drove sometimes four or more hours to the Houston area and suddenly they were passing the test,” Levine said. “This ain’t just a Black school in Houston.

Persons: Robert “ Boo Lee ” Williams, ”, Williams, Jack Yates, … I’m, Kim Ogg, “, Vincent Grayson, Booker T, Nicholas Newton, LaShonda Roberts, Yates, Ogg, ” Ogg, Tywana Gilford Mason, Gilford Mason, Grayson, Black, Cheryl Irvin, Irwin, It’s, Mike Levine, ” Levine, Levine, Newton, Feroz Merchant, Roberts ’, Brandon Leonard, we’ve, Roberts, Kirk Sides, Texas Education Agency “, Alexandra Elizondo, ” Elizondo, Houston Jon Shapley, Pearson VUE, ” Pearson, Allison Bazin, “ They’re, Jackie Anderson, KHOU, ” Williams, Roland Martin, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Vincent Grayson’s Organizations: CNN, Jack Yates Senior High School, Houston Independent School District, Washington High, Prosecutors, Wilhite, HISD, Booker, Washington, Tuskegee Institute, KHOU, Houston Chronicle, Texas Education Agency, Investigators, Washington High School, State, “, Houston Federation of Teachers, Yates, ” Locations: Ward, Texas, …, ” Harris County, Harris County, Harris, Houston, ”, Dallas

☆ Over 200 unqualified Texas educators had someone else take their exam in cheating scandal
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Five people have been charged in Texas, accused of organizing and participating in an illegal cheating scheme that certified more than 200 unqualified teachers and saw the plot’s “kingpin” rake in more than $1 million, prosecutors announced. Investigators noticed a pattern: Numerous teacher certification candidates who previously failed certification exams would drive from faraway Texas cities to the Houston area to take an exam. Then a tip came in that exposed the cheating scheme. He'd pay her about 20% of the $2,500 to allow the cheating, Levine said. “They are going to go over every teacher, I’m sure, and take whatever action they see fit if they believe someone fraudulently obtained a certification,” Levine said.

Persons: proctor, Kim Ogg, Vincent Grayson, Booker T, Tywana Gilford Mason, Nicholas Newton, Nikole, LaShonda Roberts, Ken Paxton, Mike Levine, Texas “, ”, Ogg, —, Levine, proctors, ” Levine, Grayson, Gilford Mason, He'd, Nicolas Newton, Newton, “, Roberts, HTEC, It's, Brandon G, Leonard, I’m, — Grayson, Alexandra Elizondo Organizations: Washington High School, Houston Independent School District, Texas Education Agency, Training, Education Center, DA, Public, Houston Training, Booker, Yates High School, NBC News, TEA, Houston ISD, HISD, Public Affairs, Communications Locations: Texas, Houston, Harris County, Newton, Houston ISD, TACTIX

☆ Opinion: Public schools are not Sunday schools
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Opinion Amanda Tyler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —It has been an especially active few weeks for news about religion in public schools. Public schools are not Sunday schools, and families should feel free to send their children to school without worrying about state officials interfering in their choices about religious instruction. These politically conservative state officials are seemingly making a show of testing the limits of government-sponsored religious instruction and exercise in public schools, emboldened by the US Supreme Court’s recent decisions. Like religious instruction in public schools, the public funding of religion undermines fundamental principles of religious freedom for all. By merging religious and political authority, taxpayer funding of religious schools threatens the rights of people of all faiths — and those of no faith.

Persons: Amanda Tyler, Jeff Landry, Ryan Walters, ” Amanda Tyler, Kennedy, Walters, beholden, ” Walters Organizations: Baptist, Religious Liberty, Christian Nationalism, CNN, Texas Education Agency, Louisiana Gov, US, Twitter, Oklahoma Supreme Court Locations: Louisiana, Oklahoma’s, Kennedy v, Bremerton, Kentucky, Texas , Louisiana, Oklahoma

☆ Publishers, booksellers sue Texas over public school book ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 26 (Reuters) - A coalition of booksellers, authors and publishers has sued Texas seeking to block a new state law that bans "sexually explicit" books from public schools. Vendors that do not participate will be barred from selling any books to Texas schools. Any books rated explicit cannot be sold to public schools and must be recalled from libraries. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said the Texas law protects children, declaring that it "gets that trash out of our schools" when he signed it in June. In May, the writers' group PEN America and others sued a Florida school district for banning books dealing with LGBTQ and race issues.

Persons: Greg Abbott, Joseph Ax, Colleen Jenkins, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Republican, Texas Education Agency, PEN America, American Library Association, Thomson Locations: Texas, Austin, Florida, Arkansas

☆ A new Texas law forces vendors to rate sexual content in schoolbooks. They’re not happy about it
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Nadia Bidarian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But a new Texas law might require her to. The law’s primary author, Republican Texas State Rep. Jared Patterson, said its aim is simple: Get sexually explicit content out of schools. Republican Texas State Rep. Jared Patterson debates HB 900, which would ban sexually explicit materials from library books in schools. Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman/APBut the burden of rating these books falls on book vendors. The law also applies retroactively to books sold to schools in the past, meaning that vendors must issue recalls for “sexually explicit” books still in circulation.

Persons: Charley Rejsek, they’d, “ We’re, ” Rejsek, Jared Patterson, Mikala Compton, “ We’ve, “, ” Patterson, ”, Shirley Robinson, ” Robinson, Ben Conn, Conn, Noble, ” Conn, wasn’t, Patterson, Valerie Koehler, Mary Cate Stevenson, Noah Nofz Koehler, doesn’t, she’s, ” Koehler, Noah Nofz Richard Bailey, Greg Abbott, Bailey, ” Bailey, Lewis Parry, ” Elizabeth Jordan, ’ Patterson, ” Jordan, can’t, Jordan Organizations: CNN, Republican Texas State, Austin American, Statesman, Resources, ”, Texas Library Association, Media Association, Barnes, Penguin, Library Company, Education, Willow, Interabang, Dallas County, Lewis Parry Interabang, Nowhere, Texas Education Agency Locations: Texas, Austin, ”, Houston, Houston , Texas, Dallas, Dallas , Texas, San Antonio

☆ The world's biggest publisher is suing a Florida school district for banning books by writers including Toni Morrison and Khaled Hosseini
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Penguin Random House is suing a Florida school district and board after it banned certain books. Penguin Random House has joined forces with an authors' group to sue a Florida school district after it banned a number of books. Books removed or restricted by Escambia include "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. All have had books removed from libraries or had student access restricted by the district, PEN America said in a press release. "The book removals and restrictions enacted by the School District and School Board are denying students access to books they would like to read, or chilling such access."

☆ Meet Matt Krause, the man who critics say helped make Texas a national leader in book bans
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Texas now has the highest number of book bans in the US. Texas is now a leader in book bans, and one influential politician — along with pressure from the GOP — may have been the driving force, a Houston Chronicle investigation found. By April 2022, a PEN America analysis found that Texas had 713 bans, nearly half of all book bans in the US. Some politicians and parent groups disagreed with the inquiryKrause denies any political motivations behind the book list, but critics disagree. For Foote, the book bans represent GOP political motivations, citing school board officials and lawmakers who have begun their own book challenges.

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