Bluebonnet implementation leaves much to be desired

In June, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) overhauled existing curricula and rolled out its new bible-infused Bluebonnet curriculum, which we’ve reported on extensively. This curriculum includes mathematics and reading/language arts and includes at least a dozen Bible passages and stories. Despite these materials being optional, the state included financial incentives for schools that opted in, essentially nudging districts towards adoption and giving the state unprecedented control over the content appearing in Texas classrooms.

However, more than 4,200 grammatical, factual, and copyright errors were found in the books, worksheets, teacher guides, and other educational materials; a blunder so severe, it’s costing the state roughly $8.4 million to correct. Additionally, 367 school districts were forced to open the school year without the proper educational material to begin Bluebonnet curriculum teaching because of printing delays. We encourage you to read and support the Houston Chronicle’s reporting on this, which is excellent. 

This issue reflects an ongoing conflict surrounding education in Texas. What we see from the Bluebonnet curriculum is that the TEA and SBOE members are more concerned with indoctrination than with properly conducting research to understand how to better assist schools with educating students. The sheer fact that Texas has continuously refused to provide additional funding to schools, but somehow has enough funds to provide an incentive to participate in a curriculum that was created haphazardly, should show everyone that this was never about an inability to provide schools with what they need, but instead about pushing districts into a corner they cannot get out of until they conform to the state’s demands. And they can’t even get that right without operational delays.