Shaping the Future of Social Studies in Texas

Summer 2025 Legislative and Policy Update

By Advocacy Committee co-chairs Meghan Dougherty and Terry Cherry 

2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for education—particularly in social studies. Several recently passed laws from this legislative session will have significant and lasting impacts. In addition, the State Board of Education has officially begun the process of revising the K–12 Social Studies standards.

Below, you’ll find a summary of key legislative and SBOE actions, as well as an overview of the work the TXCSS Advocacy Committee is doing to provide leadership, build consensus, and ensure our community’s voice is at the forefront of these critical decisions.

2025 Texas Legislative Session

The biggest news out of the session was the passage of HB2 and additional funding for schools. While a welcome relief, many education advocacy organizations, such as Raise Your Hand Texas, believe this is still not enough money. $19.6 billion additional funding was needed just to keep up with inflation since 2019; HB2 provided $8.5 billion. This spending increase was sorely needed: Texas has ranked in the bottom 10 of states nationwide in per pupil spending. Please check out Raise Your Hand Texas’ website for more information about school funding. 

Additionally, the legislature came close to revising STAAR testing. The proposed bills from the Senate and House went to conference committee, but House members refused to adopt the Senate’s proposals. The House members are seeking a greater reduction in state testing, while the Senate bill leans towards increasing accountability measures. To that end, HB 4 proposed eliminating any assessments that were not federally required, i.e. 8th grade and HS EOC for U.S. history, while the Senate version kept these assessments. This item was added to the Governor’s agenda for the Special Session, although the way the Special Session is shaping up, with more urgent issues on redrawing districts and emergency management after the devastating flooding in July, it is likely the legislature will not move forward on assessment just now. This gives us more time to engage with lawmakers on ways to improve assessment in Texas, and TXCSS will share some plans with members soon about ways we are advocating for better social studies assessment. 

In terms of social studies-specific legislation, three bills were passed that will have a direct impact on standards: SB 24, HB 27, and HB 824. The table below describes the impact of these laws. 

Bill	Summary	When will it go into effect?
SB24	This bill requires the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) to update the social studies TEKS in each grade, 4–12, as appropriate to include: Instruction on communist regimes and ideologies (e.g., Cultural Revolution, Holodomor, Khmer Rouge, Cuban communism); Comparative analysis of communism and U.S. founding principles such as individual rights, free enterprise, and democracy, and inclusion of first-person testimonies from victims of communist regimes, where available.	Beginning in the 2026–2027 school year
HB27	Students will be required to complete a one‑half credit of personal financial literacy for graduation, replacing the prior bundled “economics & financial literacy” course. In addition, to meet graduation requirements, students will have an option to complete one full credit in world geography, or world history, OR economics. This means in a district requiring 3 social studies credits to graduate, students will need to complete:  1 credit in world geography, or world history, OR economics. 1 credit in U.S. history since 1877 .5 credit in U.S. government  .5 credit in personal financial literacy  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) must compile and distribute free, open‑source curricula for districts to use, and allow AP courses deemed equivalent to fulfill the credit requirement.	Applies to public high school students entering 9th grade in 2026–27
HB824	This bill requires the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) to update the social studies TEKS for U.S. Government class in high school to include the following:  the role of governmental officials, including: statewide elected officials; county officials; city councilors; and, other local governmental officials; the voting process and election laws of this state; the eligibility requirements to run for elected office in this state; Robert ’s Rules of Order; and the elected officials who represent the student at each level of government.	Applies to High School Government classes starting in the 2025-26 school year

State Board of Education - TEKS Revisions

TXCSS Survey Results on the Proposed Frameworks

In June, the SBOE presented three possible options for a framework. To gauge our members’ feelings about these options, we pushed out a survey during the month of July. The full summary of responses to the survey is available here. Please feel free to share these results with your colleagues or any other stakeholders. 

As a result of the responses of the survey, in which we found that 56.2% of our members disagreed or strongly disagreed with Option 2 and 67.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed with Option 3, we have been working with SBOE Member Pam Little on an alternative framework proposal. 

We found many survey respondents believed K–3 Framework should be preserved for developmental appropriateness. Many survey respondents expressed support for keeping the current K–3 sequence focused on personal identity, family, and local communities. These educators emphasized that early learners need to develop a basic sense of time and place before engaging with more complex historical ideas.

• “Students in K–2 are just beginning to understand time and place. It makes sense to start with the world they know before asking them to understand the past.” 

• “K-2 needs some coherence, not just random people, events, and places.” 

Many educators emphasized the need for students to encounter world geography and global history before diving into U.S. and Texas history. They also expressed concerns about the proposed sequences being too focused on Western civilization. 

• “There’s too much emphasis on Texas and the United States without the global background to understand it. Students need context first.”

• “World geography and culture needs to be addressed prior to 8th grade to give students background knowledge necessary to understand aspects of US and TX History.” 

• “Students need strong grounding in geography and how people and the world interact.”

Several respondents raised concern that repeating content in middle school could lead elementary campuses to further de-emphasize social studies in favor of math and reading. Respondents stated they wanted meaningful content in elementary grades to ensure social studies remains a priority across all levels.

• "We need to be able to take what we build conceptually and content wise into middle school. It would be great if Middle School did not repeat anything from elementary but built off of it. The middle option will create repeats no matter how well intentioned and will result in less teaching of Social Studies in elementary."

After reviewing your comments, TXCSS will be advocating for: 

• more specific and coherent TEKS at the elementary level

• a standalone Texas history course in elementary

• an embedded 2-year U.S./Texas history course in middle school

• the retention of a standalone world cultures course in upper elementary or middle school

• the addition of a standalone early world history course in upper elementary or middle school

We will share a finalized version of our proposal in the coming weeks. While we understand that no single framework will satisfy every perspective, our goal is to reach a broad consensus across our community. Now more than ever, it is essential that we present a unified voice. If we are unable to align around clear proposals and action steps, decision-making will fall entirely to TEA and the State Board of Education—without strong, coordinated input from the field. If you have concerns or further input, please email us directly at advocacy@txcss.net. 

Next Steps for TEKS Revisions 

The selection of workgroups has not yet begun. It is unclear what the calendar for TEKS revisions will be starting in the fall. Content advisors should be chosen by the September meeting and the SBOE will vote on a final framework proposal in September.

It is essential that members of our organization directly engage with State Board of Education members in the coming months. In mid-August, we will issue a formal call to action encouraging you to contact your Board representatives ahead of the September meeting. If possible, we also urge you to attend the meeting in person and provide public testimony. State Board members must hear directly from educators in the field, especially since TEA did not reach out to educators in crafting the Framework proposals that were presented in June. 

This moment presents a critical opportunity to influence how social studies is taught in Texas and to address persistent gaps in our standards and course offerings. In light of HB 27, there is a real risk that more students will choose to fulfill their graduation requirements by taking a year of economics, potentially bypassing world history and world geography altogether in high school.

This makes it all the more important that we strengthen instruction in these subjects during the elementary and middle school years—when students can build foundational geographic knowledge and historical context essential for understanding the broader world. 

If you have questions, comments, or concerns about our advocacy for social studies, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our official email is advocacy@txcss.net. We welcome your input and ideas. We seek to be transparent and support your work in the classrooms across the state of Texas.