El Campo ISD to review Bluebonnet K–5 ELA curriculum over religious references; timeline set

El Campo Independent School District Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Alicia Starry told the board on March 6 that the district will review K–5 Bluebonnet (Amplify) English language arts materials for passages that reference religion and proceed with redactions or lesson changes where appropriate.

Starry said the district expects to receive the physical instructional materials in May and plans to convene teacher leaders during the summer so the review will not pull teachers from classrooms during the school year. She told trustees she would return in July with a blackline summary of recommended edits and said the goal is to have at least the first semester ready by the start of next school year, with the entire year revised if possible.

Starry described the review process as a grade-by-grade, unit-by-unit internalization: teacher leaders — identified as content experts — will mark lessons or cards with religious references, then a district team will decide whether to remove the text, redact teacher-only background, replace a single card or, rarely, drop an entire lesson if it is irrelevant to the TEKS (state learning standards). "A lot of this is just unnecessary text," Starry said. "It'll say something, and then there's a blurb in there that is just referencing Christianity in some way and it's not necessary to what's being taught."

Board members asked whether Region 3 and the Texas Education Agency would assist. Starry said Region 3 is providing support and confirmed the materials are the State Board–approved Bluebonnet (Amplify) version that the State Board of Education adopted in November. She said the district will also scan math and other materials for completeness but that the main concerns have appeared in ELA units that integrate history or science topics.

Sandy, a district staff member who has presented discipline and implementation data in past workshops, told trustees the district will collect and provide metrics the board requests once the review team has completed its initial pass. Starry said the review team will prioritize not disrupting instruction and will seek to return a clear, redlined plan to the board in July.

The board did not take a formal vote on the curriculum review itself; Starry presented the proposed review timeline and described the staff and teacher roles the district intends to use.