The Texas Senate voted 22-9 on Monday to pass a bill requiring public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to use “Before Christ” (B.C.) and “Anno Domini” (A.D.) for historical dates in instructional materials and classroom teaching.
Senate Bill 2617, authored by Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), would ban the use of the secular “Before Common Era” (B.C.E.) and “Common Era” (C.E.) designations in the school setting. It now heads to the Texas House.
“By putting this into law, the Senate bill protects Texas’ long standing approach to teaching history clearly, consistently, without political distortion — giving parents, teachers, and students confidence in a consistent foundation for learning,” Creighton, a Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said, per the Texas Tribune.
The measure, co-authored by Republican Sens. Donna Campbell, Adam Hinojosa, and Bryan Hughes, passed without debate and would take effect in the 2026-2027 school year if enacted.
In 2022, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) considered replacing B.C./A.D. with B.C.E./C.E. in textbooks after families raised concerns about Christian terminology in public schools, but the policy was not adopted.
The bill has now moved on to the Texas House for consideration.
