Fort Worth Independent School District trustees voted 7-2 to adopt Bluebonnet Learning’s phonics program for kindergarten through third grade, aiming to strengthen early reading skills.
The nearly $1 million purchase, funded by the state, includes materials in both English and Spanish and will be implemented in classrooms this fall.
Superintendent Karen Molinar emphasized the urgency of improving literacy, despite 2025 reading scores exceeding expectations.
“We have to strengthen that early literacy foundation and we know that we needed an additional phonics program,” she said, per Fort Worth Report. “Every percentage point matters when we’re closing that achievement gap for our subgroups.”
The phonics program, part of the evidence-based “science of reading” approach, teaches students to connect letters to sounds, enabling them to decode words. The curriculum focuses on letter recognition, letter-sound associations, blending, and spelling patterns.
Trustees Wallace Bridges and Camille Rodriguez opposed the adoption, citing concerns from constituents about potential religious content in Bluebonnet’s materials.
“There’s been a lot of concern about the Bluebonnet material — the feeling that we’re bringing in some type of religious material for students,” Bridges said. “How does that work if I’m a parent, and I’m a Muslim and I don’t really support that?”
Rodriguez echoed, saying, “I have the same concerns. I will not be supporting this.”
Deputy Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury clarified that the adopted phonics component is free of religious references.
“The skills component we are adopting today has nothing to do with any of that,” he said, according to FWR. “It is phonics — aligned to the science of reading — and has no religious references. The knowledge component, where some of those references exist, we are not adopting.”
About 2% of Bluebonnet’s knowledge lessons statewide include religious references, such as Bible stories, but these are excluded from Fort Worth ISD’s adoption.
Trustee Anael Luebanos praised the inclusion of Spanish materials, saying, “I love that this has a Spanish component. Thank you very much for including that and making sure the majority of our students will be able to use it,” FWR reported.
The decision follows months of review and teacher feedback, with the program saving approximately $355,000 compared to a prior plan requiring separate English and Spanish resources. It aligns with Fort Worth ISD’s efforts to standardize instruction and build on the early literacy gains made during the 2024-25 school year.
The district previously adopted Bluebonnet’s math curriculum in May to secure state funding, despite debates over the curriculum’s optional Bible story content, which the State Board of Education approved in the fall of 2024.
Teacher training will begin this summer, with implementation set for August.