The Texas State Board of Education voted 9-5 on Friday to approve a mandatory reading list for all public school grade levels that incorporates passages from the Bible, a decision that will affect more than 5 million students when it takes effect in the 2030-31 school year. The list, which includes roughly 200 works ranging from Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations” to excerpts from the Book of Job and the Sermon on the Mount, represents the first time a US state has imposed a statewide required reading list containing religious texts, according to education observers. The board, which is controlled by Republicans, framed the measure as a way to ensure students engage with texts that have shaped Western culture and American history.

Supporters of the mandate, including board members and conservative advocacy groups, argue that Judeo-Christian traditions are foundational to the nation’s founding and that studying the Bible is essential for cultural literacy, not religious instruction. In contrast, civil liberties organisations, teachers’ unions, and some Jewish community leaders in Texas contend that the list privileges a Protestant Christian perspective, reduces the autonomy of educators, and blurs the constitutional separation of church and state. The Texas Freedom Network, a progressive advocacy group, said the list sends a message that only one religious text is worthy of study. Jewish representatives, while acknowledging the inclusion of Holocaust literature such as Anne Frank’s diary and Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” warned that mandatory Bible readings could alienate students of minority faiths and place teachers in the position of teaching religion rather than teaching about religion.

The decision extends a series of measures in Texas that have expanded the presence of religion in public education, including a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and an optional Bible-infused curriculum approved last year. The board is also expected to vote on a new social studies curriculum that links Bible stories with American history. Analysts note that because Texas educates roughly one in ten of the nation’s public school students, its textbook and curriculum choices often influence publishers and other states, potentially giving the move national repercussions.

The reading list stems from a 2023 state law that required at least one literary work to be taught at each grade level, but the board’s final selection far exceeds that minimum. The vote followed months of public debate and last-minute additions, including the story of Jonah and the Whale for first-graders. Legal challenges are anticipated, with opponents arguing the mandate conflicts with the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. The reading list will be phased in starting with elementary schools in 2030, while the board’s vote on the social studies curriculum is expected imminently.