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Texas Attorney General (AG) Greg Abbott issued an opinion that school districts are not required to offer courses on the Old and New Testaments, stating that such courses are optional. Abbott issued the opinion on House Bill 1287 passed by the Texas Legislature in 2007 in response to a request from Education Commissioner Robert Scott.
The bill had created some confusion due to apparent conflicts in the law. One part of the statute states that districts may offer the courses, and another part states that a district is not required to offer the courses if fewer than 15 students enroll. The AG examined the legislative history of the bill in making his determination that the Legislature intended the courses to be optional for school districts.
The Attorney General also examined language in the bill that inserted the following in the state’s enrichment curriculum, “religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature.”
The opinion provides that this language does not require this curriculum to be taught in a separate course and that the State Board of Education may by rule require school districts to teach it. If it does, the curriculum could be included in a related course such as history or language arts. An AG opinion is considered to be persuasive, but not binding authority.
Page created: 01/15/09
