The next chapter of Texas’ civics education debate may not be about whether students should learn American government, but how schools define civic readiness.
For many Black Texans, the answer extends beyond teaching the Constitution and the mechanics of government to ensuring students understand the full history of American democracy.
A new survey from Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center found that Black Texans are firmly supportive of civics education in principle, but notably more cautious than white voters when that support is translated into specific policy.
The survey polled 1,706 registered Texas voters, including a subsample of Black respondents who made up 14% of the total.
Odus Evbagharu, Democratic candidate for Texas House of Representatives District 135, argued that civics education is essential to the long-term political empowerment of Black Americans.
“It starts when you’re in elementary school,” Evbagharu said. “You should learn the basics and the foundation of America…We won’t allow the government to erase our history, particularly as Black people in this country. Whether you’re a first-generation African, Latino, or you’re coming from Africa, it’s really important to understand the history of where we come from.”
On curricula, Evbagharu said preserving Black history, including civil rights and other milestones, depends on political participation. He says that electing leaders committed to those issues is the only way to ensure accurate history remains in classrooms.
Broad support for the basics
On fundamental questions, Black Texans’ views closely track the statewide consensus.
While the report does not break out every question by race, the overall numbers 79% of respondents say it is very important for students to understand the Declaration of Independence and Constitution by graduation, and 91% support a required civics class statewide.
A more cautious view on testing
Where the data show a real divide is over requiring a civics test to graduate. Statewide, 81% of voters supported the idea.
But support was uneven by race. While 88% of white voters backed it, 75% of Latino voters and 67% of Black voters did not.
The report’s authors specifically flag the gap between white and Black support as one of the survey’s more statistically significant findings.
Michael O. Adams, co-author of the report and director of the Master of Public Affairs Graduate Program at TSU’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, said Black Texans’ lower support for a civics graduation test likely reflects broader skepticism toward standardized testing rather than opposition to civics education itself.
“Black Texans have had some concerns about standardized testing and in terms of the measurements and how they’ve been used,” Adams explained. “Not to analyze or prohibit progress, but it’s just an overall concern in terms of these tests and how they’re used in the ranking of the schools.”
On curriculum, Adams said civics education should provide a full account of the contributions of all racial and ethnic groups, including Black history. He described civic education as a lifelong process that extends from childhood through adulthood and involves schools, families, religious institutions, and everyday civic experiences such as voting.
“In Texas, they have civics, but in higher education, professors don’t always do a good job,” Adams said. “Every student who matriculates at a community college or at a state university they take as a part of their core requirements, American government. In Texas, we’re going to see in the upcoming legislative session. I think civics will be very important in this session.”
He also noted that Texas politics and legislation have increasingly shaped debates over how history is taught, and predicted civics education will remain a significant issue in future legislative sessions.
More support for spending, similar to white voters
On state funding, Black and white voters were nearly identical, arguing Texas should spend more on K-12 civics education, both above the statewide average.
Black Texans are just as likely as white Texans to want more state investment in civics instruction, even while being more cautious about attaching that instruction to a graduation test.
Evbagharu said that investing more in reading materials is urgent.
“Civic participation amongst Black people is for the survival of us,” he said. “We’ve got to go vote. We need to go get power…Participating in the way that we should and at record numbers. It takes all of us, not just our elected officials; it takes community leaders, it takes precinct chairs, it takes high school students who are turning 18, it takes our principals at our high school to make sure they’re registering high schoolers to vote when they turn 18 to make them eligible to vote and do their civic participation.”
Partisanship complicates the picture further.
Democrats, overall, a coalition in which Black voters are a significant and reliably supportive bloc, were far more likely than Republicans to favor increased civics spending (67% to 57%), even though Republicans were more supportive of the testing requirement.
Context: A statewide push already underway
The survey lands as Texas is already in the middle of implementing new civics requirements. Senate Bill 3, passed in 2021, created a statewide Civics Training Program for teachers and administrators that began rolling out to elementary campuses in summer 2026, with secondary campuses to follow in 2027.
The State Board of Education has also been revising social studies curriculum standards, adopting new social studies Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and a required literature reading list.
