Bluebonnet Learning language arts and reading curriculum will cover all Conroe ISD elementary schools for the 2025-26 school year.

After the curriculum was approved by the board of trustees at a meeting earlier this year, board members voted 7-0 to approve the curriculum implementation plan for all K-5 classrooms during a meeting earlier this week.

Initially, there was a plan to implement the curriculum over time, but a coalition of 87 district employees (most of them teachers) decided it would be best to try and roll it out all at once so that each grade level would be on the same page. Superintendent Curtis Null agreed with coalition members that all grade levels should work together on the rollout.

Hedith Sauceda-Upshaw, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning and spokesperson for the coalition, detailed the decision from the district employees to the board to roll out the implementation process all together.

The State Board of Education approved of the Bluebonnet Learning proposal from the Texas Education Agency after HB 1605 passed during the 88th legislative session in 2023. Proponents of Bluebonnet believe the curriculum will set up teachers better and lead to higher standardized test scores from students. Some critics of the curriculum argue that the inclusion of teachings and stories from the Bible and other religious mentions should not be taught to young students.

Board member Lindsay Dawson said the work from Superintendent Null and the coalition to get the implementation plan in place doesn't go unnoticed.

"We really do value the implementation," Dawson said. "This is a huge part of this success and you guys are the experts on this so we definitely wanted to refer to you guys and we've just heard amazing things."

According to trustee Tiffany Nelson, the TEA is confident in Conroe ISD and their plan.

“I love how the teachers are ‘we’re in this together,’” Nelson added. "I'm beyond thrilled that this is something that they think we can do together."

The curriculum will be made free online but districts do incur the cost of providing printed material. According to Conroe ISD, curriculum provided for kindergarten through fifth grade would cost the district around $2.1 million in the first year.

The CISD board of trustees and representatives of the coalition group will next meet May 12 to create a professional learning plan and to set expectations for the curriculum.

Jimmy Barrett