Education · Statewide · CO · August 11, 2026
Colorado district removing biblically infused material from reading curriculum
What Alinsky tactic is being used
2 of the thirteen rules are in play here — campaigns rarely run just one.
Rule 4
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
What actually killed Bluebonnet in Montezuma-Cortez was not theology but the district's own rulebook: reporting shows administrators put the Texas curriculum into three elementary schools with no board vote, no public review, and no analysis against Colorado academic standards, then scheduled a ratifying special meeting only after the story broke. Once that procedural gap was visible, opponents did not have to argue about the Bible at all — board members simply asked why the district had skipped its own adoption process, and the program lost 4-3. The stated commitment to 'high-quality instruction' was measured against the actual practice, and the gap was real.
Counter-Rule 4 · Radical Integrity
Close the gap between stated values and actual practice before anyone else finds it. This tactic only works where the gap is real.
Close the gap in your own district before someone else finds it: get the policy number for instructional-materials selection and ask, in writing, whether the current K-3 reading program was adopted by recorded board vote or by administrative decision, and on what date. If your church runs a school or a co-op, do the same audit on your own adoption and complaint procedures this month. Refuse to defend a material you like that was adopted by a shortcut — insist it be re-run through the published process, in public, so the choice can survive scrutiny.
Rule 11
“If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.”
The headline reads as though a Colorado district is purging Scripture; the record shows a 2,200-student district dropping a Texas-built curriculum days into the school year over factual errors, Texas-centric content, and a skipped process — and the alert itself concedes it is 'not evidence of a statewide or national policy shift.' Pushed hard, the 'Bible-stripping' frame breaks into its counterside the moment a reader checks the board minutes and finds a 4-3 vote about errors and procedure.
Counter-Rule 11 · Proportional Truth
Refuse to overclaim, even where it would help. One exaggeration hands the other side the only weapon that works permanently.
Before repeating this at a meeting or online, write down only what you can source: the district's name, the curriculum's name, the date of the vote, the tally, and the stated reasons. Say 'one district, one curriculum, adopted without a board vote' rather than 'Colorado is removing the Bible.' If someone in your circle overstates it, correct it kindly and immediately — the credibility you keep is what you will spend the next time a real statewide question comes up.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
Know where you stand
The free 4-minute assessment identifies your mountain and your institution’s capture phase — so alerts like this one arrive matched to where you actually stand.
Facing this yourself? Ask. Describe what is happening and get what the book, Scripture, and the law of your state say, with the exact words to use. Your first one is free.