Let's Make American Indian/Native Studies a Permanent Elective Course

The Texas State Board of Education

AINS poster for petition
Art by Deante’ Moore.

UPDATE: After a long and grueling process, the Texas SBOE finally voted to renew the American Indian/Native Studies Innovative course for another 5 years by a vote of 9-5 on June 27th.

You can see several powerful testimonies (2:37:00) and the final vote (4:15:00-4:41:00) on the TEA livestream for June 26th. Click here to see the final vote discussion (2:39:00) on June 27th.

Thank you so much to the board members, tribal nations, community organizations, and the larger public that stood behind and supported the course.

Because the course will still need to move toward a process of full TEKS-adoption, which would make it a permanent Social Studies elective, we encourage you to continue to sign and share this petition.

On April 25, 2025, the US Department of Education affirmed that the Department will not treat Native Education programs or "Native history" as DEI or CRT and that the "United States has a unique political and legal relationship with federally recognized Indian Tribes, as set forth in the Constitution of the United States, treaties, executive orders, and court decisions" (DOE).

Local Implementation:

All Texas districts can begin to make plans to offer the course. Most districts will decide their 2026-2027 calendars in December 2025, so we are calling on all local communities to start asking for the course now. The updated course (2025-2030) is ready to view on the TEA website.

If your district says they are waiting on full TEKS-adoption, let them know that the Innovative course has been approved for 5 years and that it was approved by a 9-5 vote of the entire SBOE board. This is a stronger vote of approval than the previous approval, which was signed by the TEA commissioner.

We encourage districts and teachers to contact Grand Prairie ISD for additional support and to take part in the annual AI/NS professional development workshop, which normally takes place in mid-June.

Individual Letters of Support for TEKS-based Adoption:

Because the course can still be considered as a TEKS-based course in the near future, we are still gathering letters of support for that process.

If you are a member of an organization, tribal council, native group, association, or elected official, review this Support Guide to find out how you can prepare your own individual letter of support.

Why should you care about this?

Because of the role that Texas plays in developing K-12 textbooks and instructional materials that get adopted in other parts of the United States, what happens in Texas public ed impacts the rest of the country. Prior to 2024, the Texas SBOE was well on its way to adopting a complete roster of high school level Ethnic Studies courses in a bi-partisan manner, with record enrollment for the already adopted Mexican American and African American Studies courses. When Governor Abbot appointed a new SBOE Chair in December 2023, however, the process of new Ethnic Studies course creation slowed, with a ground-breaking course in American/Indian Studies being the first course to get stalled in the process. The AI/NS course adoption process has now been delayed for more than a year. Course supporters have testified at every SBOE meeting since January 2024. We continue to call for the Texas SBOE to renew the AI/NS innovative course and continue with the course adoption process, not just for the future of AI/NS, but for the future of ALL K-12 Ethnic Studies courses in the state.

How did we get here?

In 2018, the Texas State Board of Education called for the creation of four specific Ethnic Studies courses. "Native American Studies" was among them. In the summer of 2019, course developers began discussing the creation of a Native Studies course at an Ethnic Studies regional gathering held at TCU. In the Spring of 2020, a committee of native community members and allies hosted a conversation hosted by Grand Prairie ISD to gather community feedback for a 10-12th grade course in American Indian/Native Studies. 24 Native Nations were represented at this conversation, and 14 Native Nations were represented in the committee that came together to create the course. Grand Prairie ISD began piloting the newly created course in 2021 and the Texas Education Agency approved the Innovative Course in the summer of 2023. The AI/NS course is not in its fourth pilot year and has been adopted in Robstown ISD, Crowley ISD, and is being considered in Austin and San Antonio ISD. SBOE board members and the public have had since June of 2023 to review the TEA-approved course.

The AI/NS course was slated to be heard for “First Reading” in January of 2024, but the item was  absent when the agenda was released that January. We learned later that new SBOE Board Chair, Aaron Kinsey, who was appointed by Governor Abbott in December of 2023, decided to pull the item to have more time to review the course. Since then, nearly 600 community members throughout Texas have emailed Chair Kinsey and the SBOE asking them to move forward with course review and adoption, and most, recently, with course renewal. More than 90 organizations have also endorsed the course renewal and adoption and asked the SBOE to move forward with the course.

In March 2024, we learned that Chair Kinsey had decided to review the course's recommended course materials even though they are not part of the official TEKS adoption process. By the end of the month, we learned that the course had not been put on the April 2024 agenda. Chair Kinsey stated that the course was already available to students as an innovative course and did not seem in a hurry to move forward with the course. The AI/NS Innovative course, however, was set to expire after 2025. While testifying at every General Meeting during the 2024 year, course creators applied for a course renewal in the fall. After two more delays in January and April of 2025 and a change in the review process midstream, the course was finally renewed by a vote of 9-5 on June 27, 2025.

While this gives the course 5 years of stability, after those 5 years are up, the SBOE can once again consider the course for sunsetting. In order to become a permanent Social Studies elective, the SBOE will need to consider the AI/NS course for TEKS-based adoption at the next available opportunity.

We call on all Texas parents, future parents, educators, students, and community members to help us keep the momentum going. Ask for the course in your district and make plans to join us in Austin as soon as the course goes up for TEKS-based review and adoption.

Do not wait for TEKS-based adoption!

While we advocate for the TEKS-based course review process to move forward, districts can and should offer the innovative course in current and future academic years. This will help the TEKS-based adoption process. Contact GPISD if you would like to bring the course to your district!

Why should you support this course?

The Texas SBOE was one of the first state boards to adopt high-school level courses in Mexican American Studies in 2018 and an African American Studies course in 2020. Since the 2020-2021 school year, course enrollment has grown from 6,500 students for both classes combined to nearly 21,000 students in 2023 and 2024. MAS and AAS make up 25% of all Social Studies course electives. Both courses have been among the top 3 most popular Social Studies electives for the past 3 years with MAS being the most popular in recent years. Simply put, Texas students want Ethnic Studies in their schools.

A total of 94 organizations and entities have called on bringing the AI/NS Innovative course into the Social Studies TEKS as soon as possible.

The following 35 organizations and entities, which include tribal councils, academic departments, cultural organizations, student organizations, and elected officials have reviewed the AI/NS Innovative course standards and submitted individual letters of support. See all of the endorsement letters here.

  • The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas
  • The Citizen Potawatomi Nation
  • The Comanche Nation
  • The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
  • The Society for Native Nations
  • American Indians at the Spanish Colonial Missions
  • The Indigenous Cultures Institute
  • American Indian Heritage Day in Texas
  • Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party
  • Kallpulli Ayolopaktzin (San Antonio)
  • Great Promise for American Indians
  • TCU's Native and Indigenous Student Association
  • UNT’s Native American Student Association
  • UTA’s Native American Student Association
  • The Institute of Texan Cultures
  • Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry (TXUUJM)
  • Texas State Teachers Association
  • Lubbock Compact Foundation
  • NAACP Lubbock Branch
  • Mexican American Studies at Texas Tech University
  • Southwestern University’s Education Department
  • TCU’s Department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies
  • Vikki Goodwin, Texas State Representative, District 47
  • Salman Bhojani, Texas State Representative, District 92
  • James Talarico, Texas State Representative, District 50
  • Christina Morales, Texas State Representative, District 145
  • Perla Bojorquez, Democratic Nominee, Texas House of Representatives, District 93
  • Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT)
  • Undoing White Supremacy Austin
  • Public Education Action Team of the Justice Network of Tarrant County
  • TEKU
  • Texas Environmental Hub (TEH)
  • NACCS Tejas Foco Pre-K-12 Committee
  • Turtle Island Restoration Network
  • Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE)

An additional 59 organizations have signed a joint letter calling on the Texas SBOE to review and adopt the AI/NS course. The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board has also endorsed the course.

Review this Support Guide to find out how your organization can submit your own letter.

For more than 40 years, Texas educators, parents, community members, and students have been calling on the Texas SBOE to create Ethnic Studies courses. In fact, the Texas SBOE has approved courses in Ethnic Studies since the late 1960s, only to fail to give them the needed support. Today, Texas students have voted with their feet and shown that they want Ethnic Studies in their high schools.

By approving the first American Indian/Native Studies course in Texas history, the Texas SBOE has the chance to not only make Texas proud. It has the chance to make history by being one of the first states in the US to adopt a Native studies high school elective course at the state level.

Who should sign this petition?

Texas communities need your help! Anyone who cares about making native knowledge accessible to students in schools should sign the petition, including native people and allies from outside the US. If you are a member of a tribal community anywhere in the world, please note that when you sign the petition.

After your sign, please share this petition with your family, friends, co-workers, on social media and via any relevant list-servs or social media groups.

What else can I do if I live in Texas?

If you live in Texas, you can send an email to the Texas SBOE using this email tool. As a Texas tax-payer, you have a say in what the Texas SBOE chooses to prioritize.

Can organizations or associations do anything to help?

If you are a member of or a leader in a community organization or association, and want to lend your support relatively quickly, please sign onto this organizational letter.

Can tribal councils, elected officials, community groups, student groups, academic departments, or scholarly associations do anything more to help?

Absolutely! If your tribal council, group, academic department, or if you as an elected official have additional capacity, one of the most powerful things you can do is review the course and draft an endorsement letter on your letter head. This letter can be sent directly to the SBOE. Please review this Support Guide if you or your organization would like to write a letter of support.

Important links and information:

Innovative Course Standards and Student/Teacher Testimonies:

Public Testimony at the Texas SBOE and Press Conferences:

Articles, Media, and Community Posts:

Contact information:

For questions about this petition or to contact the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas please email us at ethnicstudiesnetworkoftexas@gmail.com.

To: The Texas State Board of Education
From: [Your Name]

I stand in strong support of the American Indian/Native Studies innovative course as approved by the Texas Education Agency in the June 2025. I thank you for your decision to renew the course and make it available for state-wide elective credit. I now respectfully ask that you allow the AI/NS innovative course to move through the course adoption process in a fair and transparent manner, without the sudden surprises and interruptions that the course has experienced so far.

In 2018, the SBOE made a commitment to consider for the TEKS Ethnic Studies courses that were brought before it, including a course in Native American Studies. The AI/NS course that was developed and presented before the board is fair, rigorous, and balanced. The course standards are supported by thousands of Texans and they are more than ready for review. Additionally, the course is “age-appropriate” and would be available specifically for students from 10th to 12th grade.

Native and Ethnic Studies communities in Texas strongly support the AI/NS innovative course as approved by the TEA in the summer of 2023. The course has gone through rigorous review and revision: including, two years under development at GPISD, a summer with the TEA’s Social Studies TEKS Review Work Group E, and six months with the TEA innovative course approval process. The course is now entering its fourth pilot year. In addition, Robstown ISD and Crowley ISD have adopted the innovative course, and several other districts are in the process of adopting the course as well. In August of 2023, the Curriculum of Instruction reviewed the course and voted to bring it to the full board for review. In November 2023, then SBOE Board Chair Ellis expressed his intent to bring the course for review the following year without any objection.

In January of 2024, new SBOE Chair Aaron Kinsey did not bring the AI/NS course for review as expected and stated that he needed more time to review the course.

A year has almost passed by, dozens of testimonies have been shared at multiple SBOE meetings, hundreds of emails have been sent, and at least 80 organizations have endorsed the course, including several tribal councils. We believe it is time to move forward with the course. For this reason, we call for the following:

1) We call on SBOE Chair Kinsey to bring the AI/NS innovative course for “First Reading” so that the TEKS-based review and adoption process can be completed in a fair, timely, and transparent manner.

2) We call on the Texas SBOE to remain focused on the course standards as this process moves forward and not be side-tracked by concerns not related to the course standards.

3) Once the course moves forward to review, we call on the SBOE Chair, board members, and TEA staff to engage in a good faith review of the course that honors the field and tradition of American Indian/Native Studies and engages fairly with the Native community-members and content experts who created the course.

The Texas State Board of Education has a history of leadership when it comes to Ethnic Studies. The Texas SBOE made Texas the first state in the nation to adopt a secondary level Mexican American Studies (MAS) course in 2018 and, in 2020, unanimously approved an African American Studies (AAS) course. Since then, course enrollment for MAS and AAS grew to nearly 6,500 students during the 2020-2021 school year. Just two years later, and despite going through a major pandemic, Ethnic Studies course enrollment is up nearly 300%, with close to 18,000 students enrolled in a TEKS-based MAS or AAS course during the 2022-2023 school year (Source: TEA).

Simply put, Texas students want Ethnic Studies in their schools.

Students take and complete these courses for good reason. Academic and empirical studies have shown that Ethnic Studies courses can improve school attendance, raise academic interest, and elevate academic achievement across multiple subject areas (Cabrera et tal 2012; Penner and Dee 2017). Texas law also protects courses and programs that help to improve these student achievement metrics.

Thousands of hours of volunteer and TEA staff time have gone into developing the AI/NS innovative course. Thousands of Texans have signed onto this petition.

Let’s make Texas proud. Let’s honor our history. Let’s give American Indian/Native Studies the place it deserves in our Texas schools.

Sincerely,

By signing this petition, you are agreeing to be added to the ESNTX email supporter list so that you can receive further information about this campaign and future matters related to Ethnic Studies in Texas. Once subscribed, you can edit your preferences.