SB 13 in Texas Will Destroy Public Libraries
You can stop it TODAY.
As Texas goes, so goes the nation: this has been true since Texas perfected the secessionist playbook in the Texas Revolution that the South used thirty years later to launch the Civil War. I wrote in We Were Illegal about how often that has been the case over the last two hundred years. Recently, we’ve seen it with all kinds of laws, ranging from limiting women’s medical access to immigration to gun control. What begins here is soon rolled out in states across the country.
Which means: even if you don’t live in Texas, what is happening here today—as the Texas House considers a bill that could destroy Texas public school libraries and severely limit what is taught in our classrooms—matters for you.
The Texas Senate just passed a bill, SB 13, which was introduced by state senator Angela Paxton, who is married to our embattled Attorney General, Ken Paxton. It’s now heading to the House Public Education Committee on Tuesday, May 6.
According to Pavan Acharya at the Texas Tribune:
“SB 13 would require that school boards, rather than librarians, have the final say over which new books or materials can be put in school libraries. The bill would also create a way for parents to challenge any library book and have it removed from shelves until the school board decides whether that material is allowed.
“Under SB 13, each school district would also be required to have local advisory councils — with parents of students in the district making up a majority of voting members — that would recommend which books should be added and removed from school libraries. Additionally, the bill would not allow schools to have library materials that have ‘indecent content or profane content,’ which can include books that use ‘grossly offensive’ language.”
Last Texas legislative session, a similar bill passed the Senate but died in the House. We need that to happen again.
The freedom to read in Texas is under threat.
After a massive rise in book banning in the last few years, censorship is become less and less popular in Texas. Pro-censorship candidates for school board races, often backed by big organizations that support book banning, lost big in this week’s elections across the state.
Frank Strong, co-director of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, tracks censorship in Texas. According to his data, 38 of 51 school board candidates who spoke out in favor of banning books lost their district races. This is a massive win in a state that has been at the forefront of the fight for the freedom to read.
To understand more, I cannot recommend our episode of “The Beautiful and Banned” podcast last season with Courtney Gore enough. Gore ran for the school board in Granbury ISD on a campaign to change what was happening in public schools because she'd heard that there were groups actively trying to sexualize children, particularly through the "Social and Emotional Learning" (or SEL) curriculum. When she was elected, she asked to see all of the curriculum for the schools in her district. She read it all. And then, when she uncovered what was actually happening in Granbury ISD, she publicly changed her mind—and received death threats. (Read the stunning ProPublica article about it.) This episode goes deeply into what is happening in Texas and why these school district elections matter.
Things seem to be changing in Texas, though Texas can always break my heart, which means we need to bring about the change in Texas. But as Strong said on Bluesky, this latest election was “an absolute DRUBBING for Texas book banners. It happened in rural, suburban, and rural districts. It happened everywhere. Voters threw out entrenched book-banning incumbents, and rejected candidates backed by big money orgs like Patriot Mobile and pro-voucher Texans for Educational Freedom.”
We can win again. And we absolutely must.
If you are in Texas, or you know anyone in Texas, have them reach out to the Texas House Committee on Public Education today to say that they are against SB 13. Deliberation begins at 8am on May 6.
Go to the Texas Freedom to Read Project action page to find out how to call a legislator, send an email, or even show up if you’re in Austin.
Book banning is already a major problem in Texas. TXFTRP quotes one mom in Keller ISD as saying: “At my daughter’s middle school the shelves are barren, because they were required to pull so many books and they can’t buy new books because of the process they put in place. We can’t get any books.”
The law as it is written will capture all kinds of books and affect Texas libraries and English classes. As someone who has lived in Texas most of her life, I can’t imagine my education in Texas without access to the kinds of literature that shaped me into the person I am today. I’m so grateful my children have had teachers who taught them to love reading with books that connected with each of them. This bill means teachers and librarians will be forced to limit reading for students from kindergarten through senior year—Captain Underpants and 1984, and all kinds of books in between, will be on the chopping block.
At a time when it’s a miracle if kids are reading, these kinds of vaguely worded bills aren’t protecting our kids, they’re just limiting their access to books they might love. We have never needed critical thinking skills as much as we do now. Literature teaches those skills, and our classroom teachers and librarians already do an excellent job of helping students access books.
Texas is a state where we really value our freedom, and kids here and everywhere deserve the freedom to read. Call your representatives, or call your Texan friends and tell them to contact their representatives—TODAY.
The link again: Texas Freedom to Read Project’s Action Page for SB 13.
On behalf of kids all over Texas, thank you.
Here’s hoping that the committee today can sense which way the political winds are blowing and shut this bill down for that reason, even if they don’t have the good sense to do so for the *right* reason.