Every public high school in Texas would offer elective courses based on the Bible under legislation pushed by a key lawmaker.
Rodolfo Gonzalez/2006 AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Last year, Leander ISD’s Cedar Park High School was the only school district in Central Texas where Bible courses were offered to high school students. The class, where students including Tyler Steczkowski, 16, consult a Bible to answer questions, has gained recognition for its scope and objectivity.
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House Bill 1287, written by Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, calls for all school districts to offer separate electives on the literature and history of the Old Testament and New Testament eras if there is sufficient interest, which means 15 students wanting to take the class, said Chisum, R-Pampa. Stu- dents would not be required to take it.
“It’s the basis of our society,” said Chisum, whose proposal has more than 40 co-authors. “A lot of stuff in the Bible finds its way into our dictionaries, into our arts, into all of our literature, into the laws.”
The House Public Education Committee was scheduled to hear public testimony on the plan Tuesday evening and will do so again April 10.
Chisum’s proposal says the classes must be taught in an objective and nondevotional manner. But Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network, which monitors social conservatism in government, said it does not go far enough to make that happen.
She said that teachers should be trained in church-state legal issues and that the state should closely monitor whether the classes are appropriate, two things not required by Chisum’s bill. She also said that offering the courses should remain optional for schools.
About two dozen of the state’s 1,040 school districts now have similar classes.
Marc Chancey, a religious studies professor at Southern Methodist University, reviewed high school Bible courses in Texas for the Freedom Network last year. Most of them promoted Christianity and lacked properly trained teachers, he said.
“When teachers don’t have a biblical studies background and a First Amendment background, they fall back on their own religious experiences or on what they’ve derived from popular culture,” Chancey said. “Religious views creep into the classroom, sometimes despite their very best intentions.”
He said that there has been a flurry of legislation similar to Chisum’s filed in other states but that no other state required schools to offer the classes.
The only Austin-area public school with such a class at the time of Chancey’s study was Cedar Park High School. He praised that class for its broad scope and objectivity.
Under Chisum’s proposal, the primary texts of the classes would be the Old Testament and New Testament. Teachers could include other works, including secular books or those from other religions.
Chisum said he expects that local school boards would actively monitor the classes to make sure that teachers are properly trained and have the right materials.
“I think the school board’s going to be extremely involved in this to make sure that it doesn’t get into preaching and just gets into teaching,” he said.
jembry@statesman.com
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