Texas

Texas education officials to vote on use of Bible in public school curriculum

Published

1 year ago

November 18, 2024

Texas education officials to vote on use of Bible in public school curriculum

Texas education officials are expected to hold a vote on Monday on the use of Bible readings in the public school curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade English and language arts classes.

The board listened to hours of testimonies from those for and against “Bluebonnet learning”, a new curriculum that will affect millions of the state’s elementary public school students.

Those in favor of a Bible-infused curriculum argue that the holy book contextualizes material about famous artworks or texts like Leonardo da Vinci’s mural painting The Last Supper and Dr Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Specifically, as the New York Times notes, The Last Supper would be taught to fifth-grade students through an account of the final meal shared by Jesus and his 12 disciples. The lesson would also involve several verses from the Gospel of Matthew.

In the instance of King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, King uses biblical characters in his letter to clergymen around the south. Advocates for this curriculum argue that students would need biblical context to comprehend the letter.

The Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog organization which advocates for religious freedom, individual liberties and public education, opposes the curriculum on the grounds that it is biased towards one religion, Christianity.

Carisa Lopez, deputy director of Texas Freedom Network, spoke out against the curriculum during a hearing in September, saying: “Teaching about the influence of religion in history and culture is an important part of a well-rounded education, but you can’t turn public schools into Sunday schools. This is fundamentally a question of respect for religious freedom. Public schools can’t favor one particular religion and promote religious beliefs many students and their families simply don’t share.”

The Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teacher’s union in the country, said in a statement ahead of the vote that it believed this curriculum “violate[s] the separation of church and state and the academic freedom of our classroom” and “the sanctity of the teaching profession”.

David R Brockman, a Christian theologian and religious studies scholar who reviewed the curriculum, told the Times that while he has “long been an advocate of teaching about religion in public schools”, he believes lessons should be factual, balanced and not promote one religion over another. He emphasized to the outlet that the Texas curriculum did not adhere to those tenets.

While the curriculum would not be mandatory if approved by the board, schools would be financially incentivized to adopt the new religious-leaning curriculum, receiving roughly $60 per student from the state.

The US constitution prevents public schools from promoting or advancing any particular religion, but states like Texas are part of a growing trend of conservative Christian ideology in public school classrooms.

Oklahoma’s state superintendent, Ryan Walters, announced earlier this year that all schools were required to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments. Around the same time, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.

Texas was also notably the first state to allow public schools to hire religious chaplains as school counselors.

This movement will likely see support from the upcoming administration of the president-elect, Donald Trump, who in addition to calling for the shuttering of the federal department of education, has vowed to bring prayer back in schools.

If approved, districts could begin using the curriculum by August 2025.

Source link

Texas

How to watch Kentucky vs. Texas A&M volleyball in NCAA championship

Published

11 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

How to watch Kentucky vs. Texas A&M volleyball in NCAA championship

The 2025 NCAA volleyball season comes down to Kentucky vs. Texas A&M. The conference rivals will meet in the first all-SEC national championship game on Sunday, Dec. 21 (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

Texas A&M is vying for its first championship after upsetting No. 1 overall seed Nebraska and Pitt in the Elite Eight and Final Four, respectively. Meanwhile, Kentucky is looking to win its second title and first since 2020 after beating Wisconsin in a five-set semifinal thriller.

It will be the 28th all-time meeting between the teams. The Wildcats hold a 17-10 advantage in the series, but the Aggies are 2-0 when the team’s meet on a neutral court.

Kentucky beat Texas A&M on Oct. 8 in College Station. The Aggies won the first set, but Wildcats rallied to win the last three for the victory.

When is Kentucky vs. Texas A&M volleyball?

No. 1 Kentucky (29-2) faces No. 3 Texas A&M (28-4) on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 3:30 p.m. ET at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kentucky vs. Texas A&M volleyball: Channel, streaming

Date: Sunday, Dec. 21
Time: 3:30 p.m ET (2:30 p.m. CT)
Location: T-Mobile Center (Kansas City, Missouri)
Channel: ABC
Stream: ESPN+, Fubo

Stream to NCAA volleyball championship

MORE: The 11 best NCAA volleyball players in transfer portal

Kentucky Wildcats starting lineup

Head coach: Craig Skinner

6 Kassie O’Brien | S 6-1 – Freshman
7 Eva Hudson | OH 6-1 – Senior
10 Kennedy Washington | MB 6-0 – Sophomore
11 Molly Berezowitz | DS 5-5 – Junior
12 Molly Tuozzo | L 5-7 – Junior
15 Lizzie Carr | MB 6-6 – Redshirt Junior
17 Brooklyn DeLeye | OH 6-2 – Junior

Texas A&M Aggies starting lineup

Head coach: Jamie Morrison

37 Kyndal Stowers | OH 5-11 – Sophomore
1 Ifenna Cos-Okpalla | MB 6-2 – Senior
2 Addi Applegate | L/DS 5-5 – Freshman
9 Logan Lednicky | OPP 6-3 – Senior
12 Ava Underwood | L/DS 5-7 – Senior
16 Maddie Waak | S 5-10 – Senior

Source link

Texas

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Texas A&M’s Loss to Miami

Published

23 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Texas A&M’s Loss to Miami

No matter the accomplishments and accolades collected through the year, all seasons must come to end in some form or fashion. Unfortunately for Texas A&M football, the form of its first defeat in the College Football Playoff was in a tight 10-3 matchup with the Miami Hurricanes.

Despite of their best defensive outing of the 2025 campaign, the Aggies inability to get the offense churning until the very end of the game was among the factors that doomed their chances of advancing deeper into the national title race.

All things considered, it was a terrific season for the Maroon and White, who rattled off 11 straight wins to start the season as well as reaching the CFP for the first time in school history, which is a huge leap seeing that it was only head coach Mike Elko’s second season at the helm of the program. With that said, let’s take a look at the good, bad and ugly of the final A&M game of the year.

The Good: A precedent was set

Sep 27, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko reacts against the Auburn Tigers during the fourth quarter at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Though the sting of a loss, especially a season-ending one, is a hard feeling to turn the page over with, an 11-2 run in Elko’s second year is a quite the feat. A&M, which hadn’t achieved 10 wins in a season in over a decade, is poised to build a long-standing prescence in the national title race.

Though a small sample size, Elko has progressed his time in each of the last two years, which can lead folks to assume that next year will have a similar outcome as far as overall success. While difficult to grasp in the moment, championship programs are not so quickly built in today’s Southeastern Conference.

The Bad: Offensive struggles spoil courageous defensive effort

Dec 20, 2025; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A&M Aggies safety Dalton Brooks (25) strips the ball from Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Malachi Toney (10) during the second half of the first round game of the CFP National Playoff at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In most normal circumstances, holding a team to just 10 points typically results in a victory. But that was not the case for the Aggies on Saturday. Through the better part of a three-and-a-half quarters, the A&M defense held Miami to just three points until in the final two minutes when a touchdown was conceded.

The Aggies had no answer to their defense’s heroics and came up short in the final seconds of the game when there was a chance in the end zone to tie the ballgame. A new offensive coordinator in Holmon Wiggins is due up next season, so the jury is still out on how next year will pan out.

The Ugly: Kicking the ball

Sep 7, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies place kicker Jared Zirkel (99) kicks during the second quarter against the McNeese State Cowboys at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Sometimes, things can be so bad that they are simply comical. That would certainly be the case in College Station on Saturday afternoon, where a windy day helped a total of four field goal attempts to be missed across both squads.

However, the Aggie faithful would be the first to say that even without wind, field goal kicking seemed virtually impossible this season. Kicker Jared Zirkel seemingly kicked the ball straight in the Hurricanes line within the 30-yard line and the Aggies only scored off a short boot from kicker Randy Bond.

Source link

Texas

Johnny Manziel Replaced by a Different Texas A&M Great As ‘College GameDay’ Guest Picker

Published

1 day ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Johnny Manziel Replaced by a Different Texas A&M Great As ‘College GameDay’ Guest Picker

ESPN’s College GameDay is pulling double duty this weekend for the College Football Playoff, airing ahead of last night’s Alabama win at Oklahoma and again this morning in College Station, Texas for Texas A&M’s opening-round game against Miami.

A pair of notorious college football legends were set to represent for their schools as guest pickers. Brian Bosworth was on hand in Norman, Okla. for Friday night’s show, while Heisman winner Johnny Manziel was set to serve as guest picker on Saturday. Evidently there’s been a change of plans with Johnny Football, as moments ago host Rece Davis former Aggies basketball star and two-time NBA champion Alex Caruso was announced as the show’s guest picker.

College GameDay has not announced a reason for the change, and has not announced it on social media.

Manziel has not comented about the change either. He shared a number of Instagram stories on Friday night from the Anthony Joshua-Jake Paul boxing match, which took place at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

Bleacher Report also promoted that Manziel was to appear on the outlet’s pregame show from Kyle Field, which livestreamed on YouTube at 10 a.m. ET. Manziel shared Bleacher Report’s Instagram post about his appearance to his stories on Friday night, but he did not appear on the Saturday show alongside Mike Golic Jr. and Ray G.

Manziel previously served as guest picker for the Aggies’ Week 1 game against Notre Dame. Caruso will be making his College GameDay debut.

Caruso is a College Station native who stayed home to star for the Aggiest basketball program from 2012 to ‘16, earning SEC All-Defensive Team and second-team All-SEC honors during his impressive college career. He left college as the program leader in assists and steals, and was the centerpiece of the 2015–16 team that made a run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Caruso has gone on to become a valuable role player in the NBA. After going undrafted and beginning his career in the G League, Caruso played for the Lakers from 2017 to ‘21, winning the 2020 NBA Finals. He played in 21 playoff games, making one start during that title run, and averaged 6.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

He continued his career with the Bulls from 2021 to ‘24, scoring a career high 10.1 points per game in his final season with Chicago. Following the 2023–24 season, he was traded to the Thunder, and was a crucial piece to the dominant 2024–25 Oklahoma City title team, averaging 7.1 points per game through the regular season and playing some of his best ball in the playoffs, with 9.2 points and two steals per game during the title run.

Caruso did not score 20 points once during the regular season for OKC, but did it twice in the Thunder’s Finals win over the Pacers, making NBA history in the process.

Oklahoma City made clear how valuable he is after the season, signing Caruso to a guaranteed four-year, $81 million contract extension.

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.