The Required Reading List of the Historically Classic and Bible Texts for Texas Public Schools

The Texas Board of Education on June 26, 2026 approved a required reading list of around 200 wide-ranging texts for its K-12 English and literature curricula in public schools across the state—perhaps the first of its kind in the US. The titles are appropriate for people of all ages to read for a well-rounded education.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Free Online Educational Resources to Grow Your Spiritual Knowledge ]

The list includes only 20 or so Bible passages and many more non-biblical and classical books such as Jack and the Beanstalk, The Life of Paul Revere, Winnie-the-Pooh, Aesop’s Fables, tales about Native Americans, a children’s version of Don Quixote, Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, Treasure Island, Declaration of Independence, A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution, The Gettysburg Address, The Man in the Arena, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, biographies of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, poems by Langston Hughes and Robert Frost, and many more classics. Multiple titles are mandated for each grade, and each one must be read in its entirety. The reading list will take effect during the 2030-31 school year.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Kairos: The Wisdom of Knowing When to Act for Strategic Impact ]

Supporters of the list say the Bible should be studied as an essential literary text that can help students understand Western history and the founding of the USA. They say the titles on the list are timeless works that have shaped American culture and history, influenced generations of thinkers, leaders, and citizens, and continue to offer valuable lessons about human nature, virtue, liberty, and civic responsibility. Proponents of the curricula dispute arguments that children will be explicitly taught religion, saying that any biblical passages and stories will be taught in the context of world history.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, 100 Essential Bible Passages to Know ]

“They are being used as literary and historical content rather than religious instruction,” former public school administrator Nancy Barker told the board. “The Bible references will provide students with the background knowledge they will need to understand the books, the speeches, poems, and important documents that have shaped our civilization.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Bible Verses Applicable to Self-Defense and Church Security ]

Among the expected educational outcomes of the titles on the list are the following:

•  explain important stories from ancient Hebrew tradition found in the Old Testament of the Bible, including the Exodus from Egypt, the Promised Land, and the Ten Commandments

•  explain how monks preserved important Greek and Roman texts and the Bible during the Middle Ages by copying them by hand and how this knowledge later influenced the ideas of the American founders

•  explain how the printing press helped spread Reformation ideas quickly, including wider access to the Bible, and compare how this innovation also helped spread ideas when American founders shared arguments for independence

•  explain intellectual influences, including the Bible, Greek and Roman thought, English common law, First Great Awakening, and Enlightenment philosophy, on the American Revolution and the new American government

•  identify and compare the concept of the soul in ancient Scriptures, including the Hebrew Bible, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Vedas, and the Buddhist Pali Canon

•  identify central religious texts of Hinduism, including the Vedas and Upanishads; describe significant beliefs of Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path

•  identify that Confucian beliefs are found in the Analects.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, US Presidential Message Commemorating 250 Years of the Bible in America ]

The following are the specified Bible passages to be read in each grade and their stipulated translation versions:

•  Grade 1
   — Noah’s Ark (picture book by Peter Spier)

•  Grade 2
   — Jonah & the Whale (Jonah 1:1–5, 10–17, 2:10 ICB)
   — David and Goliath (excerpt from The Children’s Book of Heroes edited by William J. Bennett)

•  Grade 3
   — The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37 ICB)
   — Daniel and the Lion’s Den (Children’s Adapted Version CBN)

•  Grade 4
   — The Necessity of Humility (Luke 14:7–11 NIrV)
   — Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6:9–21; 7:6–10, 17–20; 8:1–4, 8–10, 15–19 ICB)

•  Grade 5
   — Moses: The Burning Bush and The Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 3 and 14 NIrV)

•  Grade 6
   — The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32 ICB)
   — Do Not Be Anxious Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

•  Grade 7
   — The Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalms 23 KJV)
   — Jonah and the Whale (Book of Jonah NIrV)
   — The Eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12 KJV)

•  Grade 8
   — To Everything There is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3 KJV)
   — “Sitting Below the Salt” (Luke 14:7–11 KJV)
   — Book of Lamentations (Chapter 3 JPS Tanakh 1917)

•  Grade 9
   — Adam & Eve (Genesis 2:8–9, 15–18, 22; 3:1–15 CEV)

•  Grade 12
   — Scapegoat (Leviticus 16:20–22 ESV)

•  English I
   — David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17 NIrV)

•  English II
   — The Book of Job (Job 1–7, 11, 14, 19, 28, 38–42 NIrV)
   — The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9 NIrV)

•  English III
   — Adam and Eve (Genesis 2 and 3 NIrV)

•  English IV
   — The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13 ESV)

•  ELLA I
   — The Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalm 23 KJV)
   — The Eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12 KJV)

•  ELLA II
   — To Everything There is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3 KJV)

•  ESOL I
   — Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32 ESV)

•  ESOL II
   — The Book of Job (Job 1–7, 11, 14, 19, 28, 38–42 NIrV)

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, & Thanksgiving ]

Also see the Fox News article, Rare American Bible and Founders’ Letters Trace Faith’s Role in Birth of the Nation

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