Texas could spend more than $200 million for controversial Christian-influenced curriculum

AUSTIN, Texas — Following last week's narrow vote by Texas education officials to approve a controversial public school curriculum critics say is too heavily influenced by Christianity, those textbooks could be in classrooms by next fall. Incentives to adopt the curriculum could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

As part of the original legislation that culminated in the Bluebonnet curriculum, House Bill 1605, school districts that adopt the curriculum are incentivized with as much as $60 per student from the state. Forty of those dollars would be a general incentive while the other $20 cover printing and shipping costs.

Bills that go through the Texas legislature receive a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Budget Board, or LBB, designed to show how much money it would cost to implement a policy, should it be signed into law. Under certain assumptions, the fiscal analysis for HB 1605 showed it could cost more than $200 million annually to cover those incentives.

The LBB analysis of HB 1605 assumes that 46% of Texas school districts would adopt at least one asset of Bluebonnet by next August, growing ultimately to 81% by fall 2028. Under those assumptions, providing incentives to schools is estimated at anywhere between $210 and $297 million annually.

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Analysts have noted that as divisive as the teachings are, school districts could still ultimately adopt them to receive the incentives, given the concerns over public education funding in Texas.

"In the sense that they even have a choice, that can be seen as positive for them," Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project, said. "The reality is that districts often also might not like the strings that are attached to that money, but they might decide that the money is more important to them than their dislike of what strings are attached to it."

Governor Greg Abbott has said that he wants to fully fund public education in Texas in the upcoming legislative session, including salary increases for teachers, though many public school proponents have criticized Abbott for not doing so originally, as well as focusing his attention on allocating taxpayer dollars toward private education in a school choice program. He also praised the passage of the Bluebonnet curriculum by SBOE.

Proponents and critics, alike, have noted the role that Christianity plays in the Bluebonnet curriculum. For example, fifth-grade teaching on Leonardo Da Vinci's mural "The Last Supper" provides the lengthy context of the narrative within the life of Jesus, including direct quotations from the Gospel of Matthew.

A third-grade study of the Roman Empire details the life of Jesus at length, including details of his crucifixion and resurrection, as believed by Christians. A first-grade study in sequencing events details the Christian Creation narrative and asks students which event came first, including items like "God created light" and "God created the first man and woman and the Garden of Eden."

Asked in an interview with CBS Austin if Texas could adopt a curriculum that makes improvements in student performance without Christian influence, Senator Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsored the legislation, said, "We can, and we have. But we could also have better opportunities to understand the references to King Herod, or anyone else that might exist in Scripture, and have our kids understand the historical explanation of what we find in the Bible so that they also understand these references in other parts of history within our curriculum."