A Democrat who pledged to remove religiously influenced curriculum holds the narrow lead that could flip Texas’ State Board of Education, putting the Republican-led panel’s recent history reforms within reach of reconsideration.
Dana Van de Walker (D) led State Board of Education member Audrey Young (R-District 8) by 564 votes, 300,108 to 299,544, in returns checked Friday. If current leads hold, Democrats will control the board 8-7. The Texas Secretary of State’s website shows 100% of polling locations reporting, but election officials have not yet certified the results as of time of publication.
“I believe that religion has no place in our public schools,” Van de Walker wrote in her 2026 Candidate Connection survey. She pledged to remove the Ten Commandments and religiously influenced curriculum while supporting students’ individual religious practice. Her campaign pledge does not establish that the board could independently overturn state laws governing religious displays or instruction.
Her response does not specify which history standards she would change. The reviewed records do not establish that a majority plans to repeal the standards. The potential shift gives that question statewide consequences: the board sets learning standards and approves instructional materials for Texas public schools.
Christianity, Islamic conquest and America’s founding
The board completed its high school social studies overhaul September 4, as The Dallas Express previously reported. The changes address Christianity’s influence on Western civilization and America alongside Islamic military expansion.
The posted committee-approved text describes Mohammed’s “brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes,” slavery and female captives as “harem slaves.” It connects jihad with Islamic expansion and the conquest of Christian lands.
That document records the committee’s language. TEA confirms the September adoption but says the final filed high school rules will appear online later.
The final, filed third-grade standards already identify Jesus as Christianity’s central figure and connect Christian beliefs about human dignity to American ideas about equality and rights. The adopted seventh-grade standards describe the September 11 attacks as “motivated by radical Islam.”
“Texas students will graduate with a solid understanding of our history, our republican form of government and our exceptional place in the world,” State Board of Education Chair Aaron Kinsey (R-District 15) said in the board’s September 8 announcement.
The classroom changes remain years away. TEA’s schedule starts the new social studies standards in elementary grades in 2030-31, sixth grade in 2031-32, seventh and eighth grades in 2032-33, and most high school courses in 2033-34.
Bible readings and textbooks
The board’s adopted reading-list rules also include biblical material. English III students, for example, would study Genesis chapters 2 and 3 alongside Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter under the final list.
Those required lists differ from Bluebonnet Learning, the optional state-developed materials that include biblical references in elementary reading lessons, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
TEA’s guidance identifies a $40-per-student annual allotment for board-approved materials and an additional $20 for printing Bluebonnet materials. Districts choose whether to use Bluebonnet; the election does not cancel those choices or order schools to discard books.
What a new majority could change
A new majority could propose amendments, change review criteria and vote on instructional materials. Rewriting standards requires formal action: proposed rules, public comment, adoption votes and an implementation date. The board’s published process includes a 30-day comment period and first and second readings.
TEA says schools may teach about religion’s historical and literary influence but may not provide religious instruction. State law still requires the curriculum to cover religious literature, including the Old and New Testaments, and its historical and literary impact. The board cannot repeal that statute.
The other 14 seats split evenly between Democrats and Republicans when continuing terms and current election leads are combined. North Texas board member Brandon Hall (R-District 11) retains his seat through January 1, 2029, under his existing term.
The outgoing board’s November 20 agenda schedules votes on reading, math, fine arts and career materials. A proposed January 4 deadline for publishers to correct deficiencies could leave the incoming board with follow-up decisions. Neither that motion nor a curriculum reversal has occurred.
