After months of delays and over 40 public testimonies, the Texas State Board of Education voted to renew the American Indian/Native Studies course, allowing districts to continue offering it as an elective. The course provides students with a deeper understanding of Indigenous history, culture, and political identity—perspectives often erased or filtered through Eurocentric narratives. Advocates emphasized that Native identity is not simply racial or ethnic, but a legal and sovereign designation, which distinguishes it from content targeted under SB 12. As such, the course does not violate the state’s DEI ban and is fully legal to teach.
Dr. Maria Unda's words were incisive. “Indigenous is neither a race or ethnicity…they predate the concept of race.”
Of course, it shouldn't matter either way as race and ethnicity are historical social constructs worthy of study.
Students and families testified that without such courses, Native peoples risk being forgotten "as if they never existed." Despite political resistance and bureaucratic hurdles, the course's renewal affirms that Indigenous histories matter—and must be taught.
-Angela Valenzuela
Texas State Board of Education renews American Indian/Native Studies course
After a year-and-a-half-long deliberation process, several delays and over 40 total testimonies, Texas school districts are re-allowed to offer Native American Studies course as an elective.
The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) renewed a American Indian/Native Studies course on Friday, Jun. 27. The 9-4 vote followed more than four hours of discussion on Thursday and Friday, during which testifiers explained the course’s importance and board members debated the course’s legality given implementation of a state law (Senate Bill 12) that bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for schools serving K-12 students.
First introduced in 2020 as an elective course for 10th-12th graders in Grand Prairie ISD, the course allows students to understand Native American history, issues, and perspectives. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) designated this as an innovative studies course, which allows students to gain knowledge and skills outside of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. However, because of SB 12, such courses face elimination.
Orlando Lara, a scholar and longtime advocate for the course’s renewal, said that while the Texas Education Agency labels the course as Ethnic Studies, there’s a difference between ethnic studies and the category of ethnicity and race. Lara said that tribal identity is a particular legal and political category that can’t be equated with race and ethnicity.
Maria Unda, a distinguished postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, said that the board members did not seem to understand the meanings of race and ethnicity.
“Race is a social construct used in history. For example, I can be racially Hispanic, but my ethnicity is Mexican American or Chicana. They asked me, ‘So what is Indigenous Studies?’ I was like, Indigenous Studies is cultural studies,” said Unda, whose work focuses on race and ethnic studies, educational policy making, and critical policy analysis. “Indigenous is neither a race or ethnicity…they predate the concept of race.”
Lauren, Tom, Walter, and Henry Daughtery, a family from Houston also testified at the meeting. Tom said it’s very clear that when learning about Native Americans, their history is told through a European colonization perspective and that’s why there’s not a strong understanding of their identity. Henry, who is 12 years old, said in his social studies course that he spent about a week during the year learning about Native Americans.
“[American Indian/Native Studies] is important because you can see how [Indigenous folks] have contributed to Texas and how they’ve helped us become who we are,” said Henry Daughtery. “If [American Indian/Native Studies] are not taught enough, they can be forgotten about, as if they never existed.”
The course renewal process began in January 2024, and the SBOE was supposed to decide on a vote in April 2025. However, in April, Lara said for the first time in the SBOE’s history, the SBOE instructed TEA staff to review the recommended resources for an innovative course. The Grand Prairie Social Studies Council put together the resources, and Lara said this TEA review of recommended resources was not mentioned as part of the application process.
“It’s sort of like if you apply for a fellowship and then they call you and say, ‘Actually, we need this other document, but the deadline that applies (has) already passed’,” Lara said. “The SBOE gives themself the leeway to change the process in the middle.”
He said that since 2019, when community members first fought for the course to be taught in schools, they had to compromise a lot, and the entire process involved lots of labor. For an entire year, advocates for the course’s renewal testified in every single general meeting because it wasn’t on the SBOE’s agenda and the course underwent several reviews because the renewal process kept changing, Lara said.
“We got here. We’ve lost some limbs, (but) everyone is super relieved and happy that we got this far… Even though this is technically just a renewal, it’s a renewal from the SBOE, which is super significant, because in the past, it was just approved by the commissioner,” Lara said. “My message to districts is if they are worried that, ‘Oh, maybe this is illegal to teach’, they now have confirmation it’s legal.”
SBOE member Julie Pickeren threatened another delay by calling a point of order by stating TEA did not give the members the course’s packet and resources for review in time for a Friday vote. SBOE chairman Aaaron Kinsey clarified that the “deadline rule” Pickeren referred to states that if materials are not received on Friday, board members can delay their vote but are not required to.
While the SBOE renewed the course for this fall, Lara said damage has already been done because school districts set their calendars in December or January, so the course won’t be available to districts until the 2026-2027 academic year.
Unda said she thinks people in power and policymakers frequently forget the importance of centering what students want. From her experience studying educational policymaking and listening to students, Unda said she learned students want ethnic studies courses.
“I wish we supported education (and) funded it correctly… instead of it being this space of oppression and power grabbing,” Unda said. “Whether or not it’s established with TEA… Everyone’s always gonna be teaching critical histories, so the work continues.”
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