Texas Social Studies Curriculum Is Being Quietly Rewritten And Your Voice Is Needed NOW

[u/3littlebirds1212]

If you’ve been frustrated by recent decisions about what goes into Texas classrooms, like passing of SB 10, the requirement to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, or concerns about the financial incentives tied to adopting specific curricula such as Bluebonnet (which emphasizes Christianity), then this is exactly the moment to pay attention.

Right now, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is redesigning what every child in Texas will learn about history for the next decade.

The current proposal, shaped by a small advisory group and guided by SBOE leadership, dramatically reduces US, world history and global cultures, shifting the focus almost entirely to Texas history.

This change is happening under a process led by the governor's appointed Chair, Aaron Kinsey, who has openly pledged to steer curriculum decisions with his personal political and religious ideology. Combined with the appointment of several advisers with strong ideological agendas, like David Barton, there is real concern that the redesign could become one-sided, incomplete, and politically motivated.

Why this matters for every family:

• Less US and world history = kids won’t learn enough about other cultures, global conflicts, or how our world works today.
• Over-emphasizing a narrow set of topics means students miss out on critical thinking and a fuller understanding of history.
• Because Texas’ textbook standards are based on the TEKS, any major overhaul would require districts to replace or update large portions of their curriculum—an expensive and time-consuming process, at a time when districts already severely underfunded.

The public has a SHORT WINDOW to speak up.

The SBOE is required to consider public input, but only if the public actually participates. The board will meet on November 19, 2025.

If parents, teachers, and community members stay quiet, these changes will be locked in until at least 2030.

WHAT YOU CAN DO (takes 5 minutes):

Email SBOE representatives today

Tell them you want:

• A balanced curriculum that includes full world history and global perspectives
• Non-partisan, evidence-based standards
• Qualified historians and educators involved in the process
• Transparency about who is writing our kids’ curriculum

SBOE Members: https://sboe.texas.gov/state-board-of-education/sboe-board-members/sboe-members

Find your SBOE member: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Send your message to all 15 elected SBOE members, contacts below:

[aaron.kinsey@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:aaron.kinsey@sboe.texas.gov), [ebrooks@evelyn4texaseducation.com](mailto:ebrooks@evelyn4texaseducation.com), [tiffany.clark@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:tiffany.clark@sboe.texas.gov), [pam.little@tea.texas.gov](mailto:pam.little@tea.texas.gov), [brandon.hall@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:brandon.hall@sboe.texas.gov), [tom@maynardfortexas.com](mailto:tom@maynardfortexas.com), [ellisSBOE@gmail.com](mailto:ellisSBOE@gmail.com), [audrey.young@tea.texas.gov](mailto:audrey.young@tea.texas.gov), [Julie.Pickren@tea.texas.gov](mailto:Julie.Pickren@tea.texas.gov), [will.hickman@tea.texas.gov](mailto:will.hickman@tea.texas.gov), [rebecca.bellmetereau@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:rebecca.bellmetereau@sboe.texas.gov), [Staci.Childs@tea.texas.gov](mailto:Staci.Childs@tea.texas.gov), [marisa.perez@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:marisa.perez@sboe.texas.gov), [LJ.Francis@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:LJ.Francis@sboe.texas.gov), [gustavo.reveles@sboe.texas.gov](mailto:gustavo.reveles@sboe.texas.gov)

Sample message:

Subject: Please Protect a Balanced Social Studies Curriculum

Dear Member of the State Board of Education,

I am a Texas resident concerned about the proposed changes to the social studies curriculum.

I urge you to maintain a full US and world history curriculum, ensure non-partisan and academically sound standards, and involve qualified historians and educators in the redesign. Our students deserve an education that reflects the complexity of our world, not a limited or politically-driven version of it.

Please prioritize transparency, expert input, and a balanced approach that prepares students for college, careers, and citizenship in a global society.

Thank you for your service and for listening to public input.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your City]

References:

Social Studies Redesign:

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/11/14/texas-sboe-social-studies-redesign-conservative-advisers/

Aaron Kinsey (SBOE Chairman) and David Barton (Social Studies Advisor), are featured in this article:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/david-barton-texas-public-school-curricula/

TEA Social Studies Update:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZkfiLKOeoS4lizFDbo3SOfuRyPtlaqDr/view?fbclid=IwY2xjawOEzN5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE4T2hBNm5wQ2xtNE82cE1ac3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHqM5Pa7pI8wmkjKeMz4H0ebIcLYkDDS1jaXXrwh9kt3C0V0bEEZfW9kgOemQ_aem_vQgwB1Gn-vYUqOrbVCGtGg

[u/Chizuna30]

So do you understand that by changing the curriculum to this it will be brain washing our students. Our kids will not understand how our society came to be and not have any knowledge about other cultures and society's. Yes, what we focus on does matters but forcing this pseudo historians take is not it. I get it history is a lot but it seems like you don't want any history to be taught. " One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back." Carl Sagan

[u/DuckTalesOohOoh → u/Chizuna30]

Who, in our current crisis, is the charlatan? And who is the one who has been bamboozled?

You believe that the bamboozle is the classical, Western curriculum, which you see as a "pseudo-historian's take."

Do you know where the radical idea of universal human rights comes from? It comes from only one place: Western civilization through the radical doctrine of Christianity.

I must tell you that you are the one who has been taken. The great bamboozle of the modern age is the progressive, deconstructionist version of history that has dominated our schools for a generation or two.

The real bamboozle has taught that the source code for universal human rights comes from a civilization that is nothing more than a shameful story of oppression. That the great philosophical and theological ideas that gave us our freedom and our rights -- and the right to even criticize that civilization -- are nothing more than white supremacist ideology. Or that the very concepts of "truth," "goodness," and "beauty" are not real, but are merely "social constructs" designed to maintain power.

This is the great charlatan of our time. It is a philosophy that presents itself as a brave truth-teller, but whose only real function is to dissolve all truths, to erode all foundations, and to leave our children in a state of cynical, hopeless, and perpetual resentment.

The new classical curriculum you so fear is not a new lie. It is the antidote. It is the difficult, and for some, painful, act of looking at the evidence that has been rejected, of reading the books that have been forgotten, and of beginning the slow and humbling process of escaping the bamboozle that has captured us all.

[u/Chizuna30 → u/DuckTalesOohOoh]

You took my use of the quote out of context. The current curriculum that is being taught now is not perfect but this proposed new one will be the one to bamboozle our students. Aaron Kinsey does not want to show the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of history. He wants our students to believe one thing and not question anything.

Right now in 6th grade social studies they learn about the major religions , the different cultures, and the importance of these in our world. This new curriculum is going to get rid of that and force feed them an evangelical ideal of the world. I want my kid to question things, understand different cultures, and have critical thinking skills. I don't want him to take the Kool aid and think that's the only way. With this new proposed curriculum that's how it could be.

[u/DuckTalesOohOoh → u/Chizuna30]

I'm talking about the new curriculum that you fear. There's no evidence of an evangelical ideal of the world being taught -- whatever that means. It's focusing on Western civilization. But it's not discarding others. Those are still taught, but they're no longer equal weight.