This school year, more San Antonio districts are using a state-created curriculum known as Bluebonnet Learning.
In 2024, the Texas Education Agency released Bluebonnet Learning, a curriculum that covers K-12 math subjects and a K-5 Reading Language Arts portion, which has been criticized for its emphasis on Christianity and Bible lessons.
In February of 2025, the Report surveyed 16 school districts in the Bexar County region, and only six said they planned to use Bluebonnet materials, especially the math portions.
Now, 10 local districts plan on using Bluebonnet for the upcoming 2026-27 school year, mostly for math classes.
Passed in 2023, House Bill 1605 requires the State Board of Education to periodically review curriculums and publish a list of “approved instructional materials.” HB 1605 also created Bluebonnet Learning.
While school districts are not required to use materials from the state’s approved list, — some districts even write their own curriculum — using the list comes with extra funding at a time when most school districts are strapped for cash.
Using the list grants districts an extra $40 per student from the state, with an added $20 incentive if they implement Bluebonnet specifically.
Here are the Bexar County school districts using Bluebonnet Learning this school year:
Reached last week, representatives from North East Independent School District, Somerset ISD, Southside ISD, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, Medina Valley ISD and Lackland ISD all said they don’t plan to use the curriculum this year.
Some districts expressed concern about adopting the materials because of report from a few months ago that showed the Bluebonnet curriculum had 4,200 errors, from typos to copyright issues.
But the errors didn’t interfere too much with instruction, said Micheal Littlefield director of programs under curriculum and instruction at Harlandale ISD.
“A lot of the changes that were being made were typographical errors or grammatical issues. For the most part, we were able to tackle those,” he told the Report in June. “Our main priority was the fidelity of the curriculum.”
Still, TEA must spend $8.2 million to correct the errors and already fired the vendor the agency says is responsible for the mistakes.
Who is using Bluebonnet reading?
Out of the 10 districts in San Antonio using Bluebonnet, only three are implementing the more controversial K-5 reading and language arts portion.
Those include South San Antonio ISD, Harlandale ISD and San Antonio ISD.
SAISD is the newest addition, after approving the reading materials last week in a 6-1 vote.
The third-largest district in San Antonio, SAISD is only implementing the reading materials at Herff Elementary, Graebner Elementary and Crockett Academy, which all have failing ratings from the state.
Local school districts can also customize how they want to use the curriculum, said Adrian Bustillos, SAISD’s newly hired superintendent.
“The items in the [Bluebonnet] curriculum are historical context, so we’re not teaching religion but the historical context,” said Bustillos. “Those items that we cannot scope down, we’ll opt out and supplement with a different curriculum.”
While much has been made of Bluebonnet’s inclusion of stories from the Bible, its supporters say the curriculum is effective at teaching literacy, using a “back-to-basics” approach and an emphasis on using paper and pencil.
It also has been touted by state officials as better at preparing students for standardized testing.
South San and Harlandale ISD, which adopted Bluebonnet reading materials for elementary grades, saw better grade-level performance on the reading State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness for the 2025-26 school year compared to the 2024-2t year after adopting Bluebonnet, according to state data.
South San ISD also saw improvements. State data shows more students in third, fourth and fifth grade scored on grade-level on the reading STAAR this year than last year.
Harlandale saw smaller but significant increases too, and plans to pilot a Spanish version of the reading and language arts Bluebonnet for grades K-5.
Bluebonnet math is more popular
While SAISD is new to using Bluebonnet reading materials, it adopted middle and high school math last year and used a curriculum called i-Ready for elementary schools.
The other district newcomers to Bluebonnet this year are only adopting the math curriculum.
Alamo Heights ISD, for example, is using Bluebonnet for K-8 math, Algebra I and Algebra II, but not the reading or language arts section.
“Our previous math materials were adopted in 2014 and no longer provided the consistent, cohesive resources needed across grade levels,” said Jimmie Walker, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at AHISD.
Bluebonnet Math also has materials in English and Spanish, which helps AHISD’s dual language and Spanish immersion programs, and having one curriculum across all grade levels smoothens transitions from kindergarten to high school, Walker said.
Northside ISD, San Antonio’s largest school district, is also using Bluebonnet math for K-5 math, Algebra I, Algebra II and geometry.
Another newcomer to Bluebonnet is Randolph ISD, a small district operating on a military base. Spokesperson Amanda Bauer said the district is only using the materials for kindergarten.
“As with all instructional materials used in the district, our educators adapt instruction and utilize only those components that align with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, district expectations, and the instructional needs of the students,” she said.
More changes in the classroom
While school districts keep grappling with what kind of curriculum to use, Texas will soon have more control over what is taught in classrooms.
In June, the State Board of Education voted 9-4 to pass a mandatory reading list that includes several Bible stories like that of Adam and Eve, Moses, the book of Job, the Parable of the Prodigal Son and more.
At the time, the state board also approved huge changes to K-8 social studies that downplay the history of racism in the U.S. and de-emphasises world history and cultures while focusing more on Texas and U.S. history.
The mandatory reading list will not take effect until the 2030-31 school year, and the state plans on gradually phasing in the social studies changes over multiple years.
