The Texas State Board of Education voted 8-7 on Friday, Sept. 4, to approve rewritten high school social studies standards, according to KERA.
The standards reshape what students learn about Islam and Christianity in four courses: U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History and World Geography. They will reach all 12 high schools across Spring ISD and Klein ISD, two Harris County districts that together serve more than 83,000 students.
The vote split along party lines.
Under the new requirements, students would learn about Islam through references to "radical Islam," the Prophet Mohammed's "brutal military campaigns," the Islamic slave trade and the conquest of "Christian lands," Community Impact reported. The standards reference Islam 12 times across the four courses, with no direct reference to the Quran.
Christianity appears at least 18 times. Students would study the "roots of Western civilization in Christianity," the life and teachings of Jesus and "moral teachings from the Old and New Testaments," with one direct mention of the Bible.
The board also removed a standard that would have taught about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy. Democratic members tried to restore that content and describe Islam in more neutral terms during a Tuesday, Sept. 1, meeting. The Republican majority voted those amendments down.
What Spring-area families need to know
Community Impact reported the standards take effect in the 2030-31 school year, though at least one outlet has cited 2033-34 as the implementation date. Spring ISD operates seven high schools. The district's student body is 54.1% Hispanic and 82.8% economically disadvantaged, according to Texas Tribune school data. Klein ISD runs five high schools with 51,236 total students.
The vote does not ban teaching about Islam as an elective topic. It determines what counts as required statewide knowledge in core courses.
About 100 Texans testified at hearing
About 100 Texans testified at a Monday, Aug. 31, board hearing. Kawther, a Muslim high school student who did not give her last name, described being called a terrorist at school and hearing slurs directed at her family.
"When I see Islam and terrorism repeatedly placed together in a curriculum, I don't see it as just words on a page," she told the board. "I think about the student who may sit in a classroom and begin associating the Muslim student right next to them with the terrorism they have just learned [about]."
Supporters said the standards correct what they see as historical revisionism. SBOE member Brandon Hall, a Republican pastor from Aledo, told reporters at a June 22 board meeting that the overhaul would "roll back 80 years worth of historical revisionism" and bring "the Bible back into schools."
SBOE member Julie Pickren, a Pearland Republican, said at a news conference during the same week in June that Texas must teach the truth about radical Islamic terrorism.
The 15-member board has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. SBOE Chair Aaron Kinsey, a Midland Republican, presided over the final vote. The high school standards complete a broader kindergarten-through-12th-grade social studies overhaul that the board began in June with curriculum for younger students and a required reading list.
