San Angelo ISD administrators recommended the Board of Trustees adopt Bluebonnet Learning as their official elementary curriculum last week.
Bluebonnet Learning, which is the property of the Texas Education Agency, has been a source of controversy since it was first available for inspection last year. The State Board of Education narrowly approved the curriculum by a 8-7 vote last November.
The Texas Freedom Network commissioned a study of the curriculum by Dr. David Brockman. Dr. Brockman holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from SMU and is a professor at TCU. In his report last August he found the curriculum riddled with inaccuracies. He noted it seeks to gain religious converts unnecessarily, and “whitewashes” historical subjects like the nation’s founding, slavery, and the imposition of Christianity upon Native American tribes. Brockman, reissued his report in November after the curriculum’s authors made several changes based on criticisms enumerated in May, but ultimately said he still could not endorse it.
“I cannot recommend the Bluebonnet materials in their current form for use in Texas public schools,” Dr. Brockman wrote. “While the authors of Bluebonnet Learning have clearly worked to rectify numerous problems in the May 2024 version identified by Texas Freedom Network and other members of the public, many of those problems are systemic — especially the curriculum’s “Bible-infused” character, and resulting religious imbalance — and require a thorough overhaul rather than piecemeal revision.
“The Bluebonnet version still verges on Christian proselytism, insofar as its extensive, lopsided coverage of Christianity and the Bible suggests that this is the only religious tradition of any importance.
“That is not a message that Texas public schools, which are called to serve a religiously diverse population, have any business conveying.”
Noteworthy improvements in the new Bluebonnet version include correcting what Brockman calls a mischaracterization of the Jewish concept of the messiah, providing more-neutral accounts of the annunciation and stories about the resurrection, and reducing discussion of the miracles attributed to Jesus, and the significance of those miracles to contemporary Christians.
Bluebonnet Learning in San Angelo
SAISD Deputy Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Farrah Gomez, came to present a detailed look at the state-offered curriculum, afterward fielding questions from board members.
Dr. Gomez spoke for about 25 minutes introducing new acronyms and explaining to the School Board the key requirements of House Bill 1605, with a slideshow presentation to help viewers keep track of the many components involved.
Gomes started off with (IMRA), or the Instructional Materials Review Process. She outlined how the State Board of Education (SBOE) evaluates and reviews High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM). The State Board of Education (SBOE) determines which Open Educational Resource (OER) is approved.
She said based on the new criteria, a curriculum must have 100-percent Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) coverage and standards alignment. But it also is judged on quality and suitability for grade level and subject, and free from factual error or harmful content.
Gomez said schools are also required to align to the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS), and pre-kindergarten guidelines, Research-Based Instructional Strategies (RBIS), and most important, support all learners. This includes those with disabilities, emerging-bilingual and gifted-and-talented students.
According to Gomez, a top priority for the State and curriculum developers has been parent-portal compliance.
“It’s important to pause here for a minute on the parental access to the curriculum. This bill requires local school systems to establish a classroom instructional-material review process, and it requires that publishers make any IMRA-approved textbooks accessible to parents on the internet.”
Gomez said every lesson will be available for viewing by parents.
She then discussed the current curriculums in use by the District, and said Bluebonnet addresses the common problems educators have seen statewide, before pivoting to talk briefly about teacher workloads, and a shortage of new teachers entering the field.
“Bluebonnet Learning, according to the Agency, concentrates time and effort on going deep on the most important topics for the grade level,” she said. “You’ll hear that referred to as the “productive struggle.”
She then offered specific examples from Bluebonnet, noting for instance there is explicit practice with handwriting and letter formation, including cursive, and direct instruction and practice with phonics.
“I want to highlight the importance of building knowledge, and providing experiences for students,” she said.
The Other Aspect of Bluebonnet
Dr. Gomez addressed “the role of religious source material in knowledge and coherence,” with regard to Bluebonnet Learning.
“As I’ve stated: The (SBOE) sets curriculum standards through the TEKS, which outlined how religion should be addressed in public schools,” she said.
“Religion can be taught objectively and academically, but educators are required,” she emphasized, “to stay neutral. They are not to provide devotional practice.
“The SBOE includes religious influences requiring students to learn about major world religions and their impacts on civilization, law and culture…ensuring no preference for one religion over another.”
Gomez went on to explain that no modification to the curriculum is allowed without SBOE review and approval, noting that any modifications that are approved must be visible to parents online.
“Parents have a right to review all instructional materials, and parents have a right to temporarily remove a child from a class, or a school activity,” she said.
“We currently have that in our district; we have systems in place for alternative reading assignments, and other assignments, and that would remain in place.”
Gomez said good communication between parents and teachers — with administrators — is key to managing any objections that may arise.
There is no perfect resource, she said. “It’s about great teachers…Is this the best resource that the District has available at the current time? The District believes it is.”
Gomez said administrators have been careful to safeguard traditional pedagogy, and make sure teachers can actually teach in San Angelo.
“We don’t want any teacher in the district to lose their ability to have the craft of teaching, because teachers are the true difference makers.”
Dr. Taylor Kingman, M.D., who represents Single Member District 3 and serves as School Board president, had a few questions for clarification purposes, and then asked about how many different curriculums were SBOE-approved for use, and about opt-out options for parents.
Gomez told him there were several other curriculums authorized for use, but Bluebonnet is the only OER currently approved in Texas, and said that the opt-out mechanisms with Bluebonnet would be better than what the district currently has, since all materials will be viewable online for parental inspection.
She said that Bluebonnet also has alternate lessons available for each unit, to take care of students if and when parents do opt-out.
Trustees took turns asking a variety of questions, about everything from the Strong Foundations Implementation grant, through the TEA, to the printing stipend and where materials would be printed.
Gomez told trustees that the printing stipend would equal roughly $234,000 annually based on current enrollment, and the district would be doing the printing.
Another question-and-answer session is expected at the next meeting on February 18.
Public Comments
The School Board opened the floor for public comments towsard the beginning of the meeting, and Ginger Moore was the first to speak. She came to support the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum.
“I was also one of the ones who went to Texas Bluebonnet in Austin, to testify about the curriculum in November,” she told trustees. “I want to tell you quickly about why we should let the schools and parents choose Bluebonnet.
“It’s paper-and-pencil printed materials, with cursive from second to fifth grade… it’s paper instructional journals, activity books and readers. There is no “A.I.” time/screen time, so you can save money on children’s iPads.”
Moore praised the program’s online availability to parents, built-in conservative values with Biblical and patriotic stories, and said in her opinion, Bluebonnet will support all students, and learners of every kind.
She said that while she is not fond of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) assessments, she acknowledges that this curriculum incorporates 100-percent of the skills and knowledge needed to perform well on that test.
Moore spoke a little about House Bill 1605, passed in 2023, and the Open Educational Resources (OER) it demanded. These resources are state owned, and subject to State Board of Education oversight.
Moore said these materials typically cost school districts in Texas about $200,000 per year, and mentioned the State is offering $60-per student in incentives to districts who adopt the curriculum.
“My big issue is that the children are supposedly learning cursive in second grade — and then, in third grade — they are put on an iPad. I am very-much against iPads for our children. It rewires their brains, and it’s not good for their eyes, and we need to get our children back to paper and pencil, and I think that’s what most parents want…they want them to learn like we learned.
“So I would just like to encourage everyone to consider Texas Bluebonnet as a source,” she said.
Next up to speak was Karen Best.
“Speaking to the Bluebonnet curriculum; I guess I’ve had a marked opinion with regard to performance, on the STAAR scores,” she said. “At the last board meeting I brought those up, and they continue to be a source of concern.
“When we talk about the STAAR scores, and the number of our third, fourth, and fifth graders who are scoring “meets grade level” or above… For our third graders, only 44-percent of them are at grade-level or above; our fourth graders — 43-percent of them; our fifth graders — 48-percent.
“So it seems that, from grade to grade, we continue to have issues with regard to improvement and remediation.”
“I know there are several issues with Bluebonnet, having to do with the separation of church and state, and I’ll leave that to other speakers.
“But one of the things we have to do in our early grades is to make sure that we remediate those reading, writing and arithmetic scores, so that by high school, we have more people walking across that stage with a diploma.”
Best mentioned the link between low grades and crime; the “school-to-prison pipeline.” She said she feels it is crucial for San Angelo schools to focus on remedial learning where necessary, so students who are behind can get on course for meaningful advancement. It seems to her all the different acceptable curricula available in Texas over the last few decades have failed to satisfy the expectations of the citizenry, and the problem is statewide rather than local.
Best used her final half-minute to say: “I can’t get my hands on this curriculum, and you can’t either. You are going to vote on a curriculum you haven’t seen, and (that) hasn’t been put before your hands. Those who have seen it have remarked that — for those early third-graders — there are only six books read over the course of an entire school year, and if you’ve looked at the one that’s online …it’s effectively pablum.”
Last to speak was Robert Hughes, who introduced himself as a “liberal San Angelo taxpayer, and product of the SAISD school system.”
“I’m here to oppose the adoption of the Bluebonnet curriculum for K- through-5 students,” he said.
“As I am sure many of you are aware, one of the core fundamentals of the Bluebonnet curriculum is to inject Biblical teachings into Texas classrooms, alongside core studies such as math, science, history and social studies.
“The State of Texas is also offering an incentive of $60-per student if we adopt this curriculum.
“Now, I’m no lawyer, but to me this sounds very much like it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which bars the government from the establishment of a religion.
“Additionally, this also appears to violate multiple aspects of the “Lemon test” as set forth by the 1971 United States Supreme Court case of Lemon v. Kurtzman.
“With that said: how can we expect our government, history and social studies teachers to teach children about the United States Constitution, when the very classroom they sit in is in direct violation of the First Amendment?
“How are we not violating the civil rights of a Jewish student, or a Mormon student, a Jehovah’s Witness or a Muslim or an atheist?
“And how does this not violate the right of taxpayers? For their children to be exposed to the religion of their choice.
“If parents want their children to have a Biblical education, shouldn’t it be taught by an expert, in a church, during Sunday Bible school or Wednesday Bible study, and not by a teacher whose salary comes from taxpayers, and whose own civil rights may be violated by being forced to teach religious texts they themselves do not agree with?
“How are we not violating the rights of Christians, who would prefer the Bible be taught in a specific way?
“I would also like to propose a question to all of the Christians in the room: how would you feel if it were any other religious text that was being forced on your children in the classroom?
Hughes closed by saying he feels like adopting the curriculum would be an invitation to lawsuits, which he pointed out could cost taxpayers plenty in the long run.
Bluebonnet Learning: A State-Owned Curriculum
Historically, Texas has been one of the main buyers in the American textbook market since textbook publishing became an industry, and the state’s population advantage led publishers to cater to Lone Star sentiments, allowing Texas to influence curriculums nationwide.
According to information from the Texas Public Policy Institute, education in Texas costs about $93 billion each year, with roughly 40-percent of that total going to classroom expenses, such as teacher salaries, curriculum, textbooks, and supplies.
According to information from the District:
“Under HB 1605 and the Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process in Texas, local school boards have a structured role in reviewing and approving instructional materials for their districts.
“The Texas Education Agency (TEA) evaluates and approves certain instructional materials through the IMRA process to ensure alignment with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and other legal requirements.
“Once approved by the state, districts may choose to adopt IMRA-approved materials or pursue their own selections. The school board may adopt materials pre-approved by the TEA under IMRA, which ensure alignment with state standards. These materials qualify for state funding if selected.
“If the school board adopts non-IMRA approved materials, materials must meet all state content, quality, and legal requirements and may require additional local funding.
“Once materials are approved, the district is responsible for teacher training, and for ensuring proper implementation in classrooms. The board may periodically review materials for updates or necessary adjustments.”
The District also supplied the following for consideration:
For a school district to qualify for the State-Developed OER Entitlement for additional instructional materials procurement funding, the school district’s Board of Trustees must adopt an OER instructional material transition plan. School districts participating in Strong Foundations Implementation for Bluebonnet Learning do not have to adopt a transition plan.
Strong Foundations Implementation (SFI) provides direct grant funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) for technical assistance to support high-fidelity implementation of the Bluebonnet Learning instructional materials, including high-quality professional learning (HQPL) for teachers, coaches, school leaders/campus administrators, and district leaders on effectively implementing Bluebonnet Learning.
Chapter 31 of the Texas Education Code Established Strong Foundations Implementation is the OER Instructional Material Support program. The district has applied for the Strong Foundations grant. The anticipated award announcement is February 20, 2025.
According to Gomez, there are a total of 200 grants available statewide, and the District applied for one in December.
Resource links:
Texas Education Agency links to the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum
August 2024 report on Bluebonnet Learning by Dr. David R. Brockman, Ph.D.
November executive summary on Bluebonnet Learning from Texas Freedom Network
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Great article. Very informative and well written. This is much appreciated.