Texas has final rules for what millions of high schoolers will learn about Islam, history, and Israel, and the state cut a longstanding lesson on Muslim contributions to math and science while adding new material tying “radical Islam” to the September 11 attacks.
Story Snapshot
- The Texas State Board of Education formally adopted new social studies standards after a recorded vote in 2026.
- A standard requiring lessons on Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy was removed and never restored.
- New standards connect “radical Islam” to the 9/11 attacks and add lessons on Israel’s founding.
- Muslim advocacy groups, students, and some board-appointed experts say the curriculum unfairly links Islam to violence.
Board Finalizes Years-Long Curriculum Overhaul
The Texas State Board of Education voted to adopt new social studies standards, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, capping a review that started years earlier. The board also approved a required literature reading list for kindergarten through 12th grade, including excerpts from the Old and New Testaments. The changes take effect in stages, with some pieces starting in the 2030-31 school year.
Board members finalized the rewrite through a formal second reading and vote in 2026, following an earlier round of initial approval in the spring. That process moved the standards from draft language to binding rules that will shape textbooks and lesson plans statewide for years.
Math and Science Lesson on Muslim Scholars Cut
Early drafts of the standards removed a requirement that students learn about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy. The Texas Tribune reported the board scrapped that standard during initial approval in the spring. When the board gave final approval months later, it did not restore the deleted lesson, according to the Tribune’s later coverage of the finished standards.
The Associated Press confirmed the same outcome, reporting the board did not revive the expectation that schools teach how Muslim scholars shaped early algebra and astronomy. Algebra itself traces its name to a ninth-century Muslim mathematician, a historical detail once included in the standards before it was dropped.
New Standards Link Islam to 9/11 and Terrorism
The finished curriculum introduces language connecting “radical Islam” to the September 11 attacks, a change several outlets flagged as a major shift from prior standards. Critics argue the wording paints Islam broadly as tied to violence rather than isolating extremist ideology. CAIR-Texas said the standards “tie Islam and Muslim historical figures disproportionately to terrorism while omitting significant contributions of the faith to world history and civilization”.
The Dallas Morning News reported that nearly every mention of Islam in the draft connected the religion to slavery, conquest, or conflict. Advocate Niloufar Hafizi said the standards would push students to associate Islam with “brutality, misogyny, slavery and terrorism”, a characterization the board did not walk back before final adoption.
Israel History Added to the Lessons
Alongside the changes to how Islam is taught, the board added new content on Israel’s founding and on moral teachings from the Torah as influences on the United States. The addition places Texas among a small group of states revising how they teach the history of Israel and its 1948 establishment, a topic that has drawn its own separate debate among historians and educators nationwide.
Supporters of the new standards say the changes bring more historical detail into classrooms and give students a clearer chronological account of major world events. Critics counter that pairing an expanded Israel section with a shrunken Islam section sends an unbalanced message about which histories matter, though the board has not publicly framed the additions as connected.
Muslim Groups and Educators Push Back
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Texas chapter said the board’s decision would “denigrate Islam and diminish how Black and Palestinian history are taught”. The group also said classrooms had become places “where prejudice is taught as fact”, and it called for the board to include “the cultural, scientific, and social contributions of Muslim civilizations throughout history” before final passage.
Houston Public Media reported that many Muslims say the finished curriculum discriminates against them and ignores Islam’s scientific and cultural history. At least three of the board’s own appointed subject-matter experts also warned against the new language before the final vote, according to reporting on the hearing record, adding an unusual layer of internal dissent to a board-approved product.
Sources:
reddit.com, tea.texas.gov, sboe.texas.gov, legacycms.tea.texas.gov, content.govdelivery.com
