TX SB453

Adds a mandatory half-credit course on "modern conflicts" to the foundation high school graduation requirements, increasing social studies credits from 3 to 3.5 and reducing elective credits from 5 to 4.5

Requires instruction on modern Russian history including the Bolshevik Revolution, Chernobyl disaster, Soviet government structure, collapse of the USSR, Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" and "Evil Empire" speeches, and political ideologies like Leninism and Stalinism

Mandates teaching on the People's Republic of China including the rise of the Communist Party, Great Leap Forward, Tiananmen Square protests, famine history, conquest of Tibet, and treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong followers

Includes required instruction on North Korea, Communist Cuba, the Cambodian Genocide, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, September 11 attacks, and the Iraq and Afghan Wars (covering Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Sharia law, Osama Bin Laden, and ISIS)

Applies to students entering ninth grade in the 2025-2026 school year or later, with implementation beginning that school year