Clear Creek ISD students will study under a rewritten social studies curriculum after the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted Friday, Sept. 4. The approved high school standards describe early Islamic campaigns as "brutal" and attribute the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to "Radical Islam" rather than specific terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda.

The new standards take effect across all Texas public schools beginning in the 2030-31 school year. CCISD, which serves about 39,684 students across 46 campuses headquartered in League City, must align its instruction with the new framework.

The curriculum changes span four high school courses: U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History and World Geography. Under the approved World History standard, students must learn about "the Prophet Mohammed's brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves," according to Houston Public Media.

The standards reference Islam and Muslims 12 times across those four courses, without direct references to the Quran. Christianity is referenced at least 18 times, Community Impact reported. The board also declined to restore a previously removed standard teaching Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy.

The 15-member board has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Its Republican majority temporarily grew to 11-4 during the vote week after Gov. Greg Abbott replaced Houston Democrat Staci Childs with Pasadena Republican Tammie Nielsen. Childs vacated her seat to campaign for the Texas House.

Board members heard testimony from roughly 100 Texans on Monday, Aug. 31, and made amendments throughout the week before the final vote.

SBOE member Will Hickman, who opposed the use of "brutal," said during debate: "I think we can all agree military battles and wars are all brutal, but we have not described any others that way."

Republican member Brandon Hall of Aledo defended the language, saying removal would amount to whitewashing history. During the Sept. 4 vote session, Robert Koons, a UT-Austin philosophy professor and appointed content adviser to the board, cautioned against the characterization, as Houston Public Media reported. "I would warn us about including things that are not based on well-established secular sources," Koons said.

The board's Republican majority approved the language.

Felicia Martin, president of the Texas Freedom Network, said in a statement that the standards single out Christianity as the source for values common across religions and leave students without the cultural literacy they need. The board's Republican majority had already approved changes to Texas' K-8 curriculum in June, including a mandatory reading list with Bible stories.

Local districts control the specifics of classroom instruction but must follow state curriculum guidelines, according to ABC13. CCISD had not publicly responded to the SBOE vote as of publication.