Last week, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released a new poll gauging how Texans feel about the Texas Education Agency’s new open education resources (OER).
The poll wanted to learn what Texans felt about the education resources including specific “historical religious stories” as part of the curriculum and instructional materials.
According to the press release, almost two-thirds (64%) of Texans polled said they support the inclusion of these stories in the curriculum and instructions materials, while 33% said they did not support it.
Broken down by race, 75% of Black Texans support the inclusion of these stories and 59% of Hispanics.
The exact question that was asked was, “some of the educational materials provided through House Bill 1605 include stories and lessons from the Bible such as the Good Samaritan and the ‘Golden Rule’ defined as ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ in elementary school as means of lessons for serving others. Knowing this, would you support or oppose the inclusion of historical religious stories and examples in state provided curriculum?”
When given a follow up statement about the purpose of including those stories in the curriculum, 58% of respondents said they believe it would “provide students with a greater understanding of the development of Western culture, art, and history.”
25% of respondents said that inclusion of those stories had the potential for religious indoctrination.
The new open education resources were developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to the Texas Legislature’s passage of HB 1605 in 2023 intended to improve student outcomes in Texas.
Donna Bahorich, former State Board of Education member and currently serving on the OER Advisory board, said in a recent podcast appearance that the new resources are “proven and rigorous” and that they will help “prepare students for post-graduation.” Bahorich also said that the resources would be a “boon for school districts” and that they would allow teachers to focus all their energy on teaching students and not having to prepare lesson plans on evenings and weekends.
The poll was conducted from July 23 to July 25 and included responses from 801 registered voters in Texas, including 36% Republicans, 31% Independents, and 27% Democrats.
