Texas Education Agency leader dodges questions about Bluebonnet curriculum mistakes
TEA leader dodges questions about curriculum errors
The controversial Bluebonnet curriculum in Texas will require more than $8 million in taxpayer dollars to fix errors, but TEA leaders haven't answered questions about it. FOX 4's David Sentendrey has more.
AUSTIN, Texas - Amid questions about a controversial school curriculum, a Texas Education Agency leader declined to take questions surrounding the curriculum's lengthy list of errors and cost to fix them.
Millions in taxpayer dollars to fund curriculum updates
What we know:
More than $8 million of taxpayer money will be spent to fix thousands of errors related to the Texas Education Agency’s controversial Bluebonnet curriculum, according to a contract provided to FOX 4 by the State Board of Education’s Vice Chair Pam Little.
The $8 million expense consists of reprints, shipping and disposal of old text, according to the contract we’ve seen.
Back in February, the state board of education approved fixing 4,200 errors found in the materials. The TEA says about half of the errors were in response to teacher feedback or grammatical errors.
It’s not required to learn in all Texas school districts, but it’s incentivized as districts get $60 per student. Roughly a quarter of Texas school districts use at least portions of the curriculum that was published last year, including Fort Worth ISD.
The Texas state legislature approved the curriculum in 2023. It drew criticism because parts of the curriculum incorporate lessons drawn from bible stories.
This week, the State Board of Education is re-defining social studies topics, including incorporating bible stories as required reading.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote an order requiring the board to identify "the essential knowledge and skills for religious literature."
The Republican-controlled board will vote on the topic on Friday.
TEA leader dodges questions over misprints
What's New:
On Wednesday, Little planned to ask TEA Commissioner Mike Morath about the errors and expenses, but Morath left the TEA board meeting without taking questions.
"This was very unusual," Little tells FOX 4's David Sentendrey.
Response from the Texas Education Agency
TEA provided the following statement to FOX 4 about the Bluebonnet errors:
"The errors are unacceptable, and the vendor responsible for the errors has been fired. TEA's contracting processes have also been changed so that if errors occur on future projects, any associated costs must be paid by the vendor.
The Source: Information in this story comes from the Texas State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency and previous FOX 4 reporting.