Texas Senate passes bill that would require public schools to use Christian B.C./A.D. system to track years

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

A bill greenlit by the Texas Senate on Monday would block school districts from purchasing instructional materials that do not use the terms “Before Christ” (B.C.) and “Anno Domini” (A.D.) when referring to historical time periods, marking the latest effort by lawmakers to emphasize Christianity in public schools.

Senate Bill 2617 passed the chamber on a 22-9 vote, sending the proposal to the Texas House for further consideration just two weeks before the legislative session is set to end.

In addition to preventing schools from purchasing certain materials, the bill would require districts to adopt policies mandating that teachers use B.C. and A.D. during classroom instruction, running contrary to the terms some academics prefer to use — “Before Common Era” (B.C.E.) and “Common Era” (C.E.).

“By putting this into law, the Senate bill protects Texas' long standing approach to teaching history clearly, consistently, without political distortion — giving parents, teachers and students confidence in a consistent foundation for learning,” said Sen. Brandon Creighton, the Republican bill author who chairs the education committee.

The legislation passed without a debate on the Senate floor.

“Before Christ” and “Anno Domini” (which means “In the year of our Lord”) are commonly used to keep track of years before and after Jesus Christ’s birth, a precise date that is unknown. Historians also use “Before Common Era” and “Common Era” in an effort to ensure time-tracking is inclusive of different faiths and cultures other than Christianity.

“It pains me that we would not be teaching our students to understand the terminology that is widely used throughout the world,” said Paul Colbert, a former state legislator who was the only person to testify on the bill during a committee hearing last month. “But it pains me even more that we would be denying them the opportunity to learn about the respect for others’ religious backgrounds, others’ cultural backgrounds, that were the reason for that shift over time.”

The legislation is being proposed three years after the Texas State Board of Education considered moving away from using B.C. and A.D. in favor of the more religiously inclusive terms. The board ultimately did not adopt the policy — which members considered among broader revisions to the state’s social studies standards — deciding instead to push back further discussion on history instruction to this year.

The State Board of Education has shifted further to the political right since then. It seems unlikely that the 10 Republicans who currently make up the panel’s majority would support the policy previously put forward.

SB 2617’s approval in the Senate comes as conservative Christians continue pushing to infuse more religion into public schools and life. Earlier this month, Texas became the latest state to allow families to use taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s tuition at private and religious schools. The Senate has also advanced bills that would require public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms and allow time for prayer.

Meanwhile, the State Board of Education authorized an optional elementary school curriculum last year that includes heavy references to the Bible and Christianity while omitting context highlighting the role slavery and racism played in major historical events.

---

First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!