Members of the Texas State Board of Education said Wednesday they want the power to decide what books are appropriate for public school students.
In a series of legislative recommendations, the board called on the Texas Legislature to pass legislation next year that would allow books in school libraries to be reviewed and evaluated. Texas’ 89th legislative session begins on January 14th.
What you need to know
The Republican-majority SBOE voted on Nov. 22 to formally request changes from lawmakers. Giving the board control over the book evaluation process would ease the burden on school districts and resolve legal challenges to the 2023 state law, commissioners said.
“This committee knows how to scrutinize content. … It can create a transparent process to do that work,” Florence Republican Board Member Tom Maynard said in November. He spoke on the 21st. They want us to take this out of their hands. ”
Texas has been blocked from fully implementing House Bill 900, a 2023 state law that would require bookstores to evaluate books with sexual content before selling them to schools. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in January sided with booksellers who argued that HB900 violated free speech rights, blocking the law and refusing to rehear the case in April.
Parts of the law that updated school library stock standards are still in effect.
Chris Muska, deputy general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, said the case would likely end if rating authority was transferred to the SBOE.
“Once booksellers no longer have to evaluate (books), they have no case,” Masca said at the Nov. 21 board meeting.
discussion
Some SBOE Democrats said they fear the proposed changes would take local control away from school district boards.
“This is one of those issues that should be left within the local school district. Local school districts better understand their communities than the state board of education and know what their constituents need and want. Because I know better,” said Education Commissioner Marisa Perez Diaz, D-Sun. Antonio said. “I think we have a lot of big fish to fry.”
Maynard said the state board evaluates the appropriateness of books but does not tell schools what to do with that evaluation.
“At the end of the day, local school boards still need to develop local policies based on those assessments,” Maynard said. “So you’re not actually taking away local control, but you’re getting something from the local school board.”
Board member Rebecca Bermetereau, a San Marcos Democrat, said she wasn’t sure if the board could handle what she called “the daunting task of reading and evaluating all of these books.”
“That seems insane to me,” Bell Metro added. “Even if we were paid, and we are not.”
Board Chairman Aaron Kinsey (R-Midland) said the SBOE could reflect on how it reviews materials, such as hiring and training outside reviewers to review proposals. said.
Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) introduced a bill on Nov. 12 that would direct the board to create its own book review process and evaluate individual library materials upon request from parents. HB 183 would allow the board to prohibit students from checking out books that contain inappropriate or sexually explicit material.
“We’re not talking about overhauling the entire library,” Maynard said. “So I’m probably not going to review ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ because of its sexually explicit content. … There are also a number of titles that are known to be problematic.”
One more thing
Free speech nonprofit PEN America reported that 12 school districts in Texas removed 538 books from library shelves during the 2023-24 school year. This does not reflect the number of individual books removed from Texas schools, as some books were reduced by multiple school districts.
School districts that removed books during the 2023-24 school year include:
