• Texas laws specify the types of classes taught in Texas schools.school bus image by Lombok from Fotolia.com
  
  The state of Texas has passed several laws mandating curricula in the schools and specifying the power that the State School Board has in controlling what goes on in Texas classrooms. In general, Texas education law mandates the types of classes that students must take but does not specify the day-to-day happenings in the classroom.
  
  

Foundation curriculum

• Texas requires that all schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade offer a core curriculum including English language, arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
  
  The social studies curriculum must include Texas history, United States history, world history, geography, and government studies. These courses must focus on the benefits of democratic government and the free enterprise economic system.
  
  

Enrichment curriculum

• Texas also mandates that the foundation curriculum be augmented by a secondary "enrichment curriculum," which includes education about health and nutrition, physical education, fine arts, economics, career education, and technology.
  
  The law also indicates that instruction in languages other than English, including American Sign Language, should be included whenever possible but is not explicitly required.
  
  Economics instruction must be geared toward promoting capitalism and free enterprise, with a focus on the benefits of the free enterprise system.
  
  At its discretion, the Texas State School Board may in the future designate technology education as a part of each school's foundation curriculum, rather than its enrichment curriculum.
  
  

Textbooks

• The Texas State Board of Education has the power to determine the knowledge and skills that must be taught within the foundation and enrichment curriculum, and they can use those specific content guidelines to determine which textbooks are acceptable for use in the state of Texas.
  
  

Physical activity

• By law, the State Board of Education may require students below grade nine to engage in up to 30 minutes of supervised physical activity per school day.
  
  

Laboratory sciences

• Curriculum legislation also grants the Texas State Board of Education the right to require students to spend a certain amount of time in science classes that emphasize laboratory practice.
  
  

Classroom time

• Although the Board of Education may require students to take a certain number of classes within the foundation and enrichment curricula, Texas law specifically denies the Board the right to micromanage; they may not tell teachers the amount of time that a class will spend on any specific topic or task, and they may not demand that teachers use certain pedagogical methods in the classroom.