SBOE hears testimony on controversial OER materials

The State Board of Education met Sept. 10-13 to discuss a variety of items, most notably a lengthy discussion on controversial new curriculum for K-5 ELAR and social studies that features stories from the Bible.

Since the passage of HB 1605 in 2023, the Texas Education Agency, the State Board of Education, and the State Board for Educator Certification have worked to implement the numerous provisions of the new law.

Among those is a requirement that TEA develop and SBOE approve a list of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and, from that list, a set of open educational resources (OER) that would be available to school districts free of charge.

Much of the September meeting's agenda was taken up by items related to SBOE's role in approving materials to be added to the HQIM and OER lists.

As the approval process for the first group of materials approaches a final vote in November, the public was allowed to comment on the proposed materials. Hundreds of people from across the state appeared at the Sept. 10 meeting to voice their support or concerns for the materials. Despite there being almost 150 materials up for review, all of the comments centered around TEA's proposed OER materials, which garnered controversy for including the Bible as a key part of the curriculum.

A vast majority of those comments were against the material, stating, among other things, that the state's approval of these materials would be akin to a state establishment of religion, which is prohibited by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Others supported the materials, saying that the lessons learned from the Bible are valuable lessons for any child, Christian or not.

Board members listened to nearly nine hours of testimony Sept. 10, asking questions of commenters throughout the day, but it remains unclear how the board is likely to vote on TEA's OER materials at November's meeting.

In a letter to SBOE members, TEA said many of the comments at Tuesday's hearing echoed ones submitted during the public comment period over the summer and that many of those concerns have been addressed as TEA revises its OER materials.

Math Academy creation?

While the other days of the SBOE meeting were not as action-packed, there was an interesting discussion on potential Math Academies for elementary teachers. The academies are currently available for teachers on a voluntary basis, but some SBOE members expressed a desire to make math training mandatory in the same way as K-3 Reading Academies.

Board member Evelyn Brooks, however, said that adding another onerous training for teachers would be untenable given how much time Reading Academies already take to complete. No action was taken at the September meeting.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.