HPISD Has No Plans to Adopt Controversial Instructional Materials

Highland Park ISD should rely on the expertise of its teachers, not the state’s controversial Bluebonnet Learning instructional materials, to continue delivering an exceptional education to students, parents told the district’s Board of Trustees during a State of the District meeting on Jan. 7.

“Our educators know how to prepare our students for the next step in their school career and life,” Erin Finegold White, a 2002 HP graduate and the mother of two future students, told the Board of Trustees. “It’s what sets us apart from other public school systems, and contributes to HPISD’s long history of excellence.”

HPISD has no plans to adopt Bluebonnet Learning instructional materials, board president Maryjane Bonfield said after the meeting.

During the meeting, Superintendent Mike Rockwood spoke to an audience of community members and former trustees about the district’s recent successes in the classroom and on the playing field.

In 2024, 15 HPISD students were named National Merit Semifinalists, and Highland Park High School earned Platinum Status on the AP School Honor Roll, the College Board’s highest level of distinction. The football program brought home its 900th win, the most all-time wins in Texas high school football history, and the district’s indoor drumline won the NTCA State Championship in its first year.

HPISD has implemented new instructional frameworks that have already raised test scores, has made progress toward boosting teacher salaries, and has hewed more closely to technology rules that have helped students focus.

The passage of HPISD’s $137.3 million bond package, which Rockwood said earned a higher percentage of support than any bond proposition in the state with more than 1,000 voters, will help it continue to raise teacher pay and make improvements.

“I love that in HP we set the bar at the highest level,” he said. “We don’t just participate, but we compete, and we excel.”

After Rockwood’s presentation, White and fellow parent Vicky Glikin, who is also Senior Cantor of Temple Emanu-El, asked that the district not abandon its “homegrown” instructional materials in favor of the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum approved by the State Board of Education in November.

While HPISD has no plans to adopt Bluebonnet Learning, the instructional materials are being piloted in Temple and Lubbock schools, according to Houston news outlet KHOU-11. They are also being considered by other Texas school districts, according to media outlets.

Districts that adopt Bluebonnet receive a financial carrot — an additional $60 per student, $40 to support the cost of purchasing instructional materials, and $20 to print Bluebonnet texts.

According to the Texas Education Agency, Bluebonnet materials were developed to meet state standards, and “were built using the best evidence from cognitive science to ensure teachers have access to high-quality, on-grade-level materials, freeing up teacher time to provide the highest quality instruction and differentiated supports for students.”

The Agency says that there is no religious instruction in Bluebonnet Learning, and that the materials comply with state law and federal standards permitting schools to “teach about religion and promote religious liberty and respect for the religious views of all.”

But the Texas American Federation of Teachers has criticized the materials as “infused with an inappropriate level of Christian and biblical content,” as well as for just being “bad at what they proclaim to do.” The materials, the union’s president said in a statement, may not be age-appropriate or effective in teaching reading.

Glikin told the board the new materials are “riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies.” They misrepresent texts that are sacred for multiple religions, do not distinguish Biblical characters from historic figures, and undermine the freedom of parents to guide their children’s religious instruction.

There is also, Glikin said, no evidence that the materials are effective in teaching students. She cited comments from members of the State Board of Education who opposed the materials for reasons including that they do not give students sufficient opportunity to develop critical reading skills.

“No amount of financial incentive from the state can justify switching to new and untested Bluebonnet, especially not when considerable resources and effort have been expended by HPISD to create tailor-made instructional materials for our students, and training for our teachers,” she said.

White, whose children would be members of HP’s classes of 2038 and 2040, said that the materials threaten inclusion and academic excellence. 

“When you teach, prioritize or even indoctrinate one religion over others, or when you make someone feel like they don’t belong because of something they are taught in a public school classroom, you are doing a horrible disservice to the entire student body,” she said.