Vanda Terrell is still getting used to saying it.
“Let’s open our Bibles,” the veteran Plano ISD teacher tells students daily at two public high schools in the district. And it’s legal for her to do it. A new state law requires that Texas public schools incorporate Bible literacy into the curriculum.
But the law provides no specific guidelines, funding for materials or teacher training. So high schools are left scrambling to figure out what to teach and how to teach it. A handful of North Texas districts are offering an elective class, but most are choosing instead to embed Old and New Testament teachings into current classes.