{"id":876890,"date":"2026-10-10T00:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876890\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T00:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:24:08","slug":"battle-of-the-books-some-texas-senators-push-back-on-harmful-materials-in-school-libraries-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876890\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle of the Books: Some Texas Senators Push Back on \u2018Harmful Materials\u2019 in School Libraries | Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Senate Committee on Education took up its 2026 interim charge<\/a> of monitoring the implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 13<\/a>, which was passed last year and aimed to target sexually explicit materials in public schools and ensure that \u201cparents are the primary decision makers regarding a student\u2019s access to library material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the law, schools must provide a public catalog of their materials, give parents access to their children\u2019s checkout records, and allow parents to submit book lists restricting their child\u2019s access. School district boards of trustees must establish local library advisory councils to \u201censure that local community values are reflected\u201d in libraries.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Brent Hagenbuch (R-Denton) brought up Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick\u2019s August 20 press conference<\/a>, where Patrick announced he would push legislation during the 90th Legislative Session to knock non-compliant school districts down a letter grade<\/a> in the Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability ratings, as well as imposing \u201cpotential budget issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick was joined at the August event by book activist Bonnie Wallace, who was also at the hearing this week, to address \u201cdirty, filthy, and vulgar\u201d books in school libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Wallace] says that only 20 percent of schools have removed the books,\u201d Hagenbuch told TEA Deputy Commissioner of School Programs Shannon Trejo at the committee hearing. \u201cSo 80 percent have done nothing, some even after being told what’s on the shelves. What are your thoughts about that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trejo replied that the TEA does not have access to how many books have been removed at the local level, adding, \u201cThat is definitely something that legislation could take up to determine how to create greater insight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hagenbuch continued to question the policy\u2019s language around procedures for \u201cacquisition\u201d of \u201cnew materials.\u201d He said that his school districts believe they are in compliance with the law because of processes put in place and parental involvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When questioned about all of the existing books in school libraries, Hagenbuch said his district said this would be very difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no effort to address that, from my understanding. So I think part of the issue is that the law really doesn\u2019t address the books that are on the shelves. Am I accurate in that?\u201d he asked Trejo, who confirmed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDistricts have expressed concerns about the heavy lift of the policy as it stands,\u201d Trejo added, describing a complete inventory of library materials as \u201ca lot of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

TEA General Counsel Von Byer confirmed that the Texas Education Code<\/a>\u00a0prohibits the \u201cpossession, acquisition, and purchase\u201d of the books in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public testimony referenced Lubbock Independent School District (LISD), where the library advisory committee opted to keep multiple challenged books. State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) spoke to the district\u2019s board of trustees about the books\u2019 presence on school shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent of the Legislature is to get rid of effectively obscene, vulgar [material],\u201d Perry said<\/a>. \u201cIf this book made the cut to go back after their process review, then I think the process that LISD has set up misses the legislative intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

One parent testifying before the Senate Education Committee said that Perry \u201curged the district to bypass those processes by using automated searches for derogatory lists of words that are unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n \"newsletter<\/a>
\n \"newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf SB 13 is not enough, what exactly will be?\u201d she asked, arguing that the bill doesn’t empower parents, but rather \u201ccensors\u201d to control high school students\u2019 reading choices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith local control, why do you have smut in the library? Why do you have filth in the books? Why was that a positive choice that\u2019s made locally?\u201d retorted Committee Chair Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), who said she is \u201cshocked\u201d at the content of certain books.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campbell continued, saying that she believes local control is a good thing until it becomes \u201cloco control,\u201d adding that sometimes the state government has to step in with \u201cguardrails and take a look.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The chairwoman also noted that students who used language present in certain books would be disciplined for speaking that way in the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Sen. Jos\u00e9 Menendez (D-San Antonio) expressed concern that the law would target classic books with explicit themes, such as \u201cThe Catcher in the Rye\u201d by J.D. Salinger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patrick and Wallace have come under fire<\/a> for promoting an online list that includes the memoir \u201cNight\u201d by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, which is part of the state\u2019s required reading list for Texas middle school students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShouldn\u2019t we leave this decision up to the parents?\u201d Menendez asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) argued that the Legislature is \u201cnot empowering parents on certain things,\u201d and that the statute dictates there will be no \u201charmful material\u201d available to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t have parental leeway,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have school leeway either.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative from the Texas Freedom to Read Project asked the committee, \u201cWhat makes all of you politicians and all of the activists here today think you know what\u2019s best and what’s appropriate for my children\u201d or \u201cthe children in my community?\u201d The representative also argued that SB 13\u2019s standards are \u201csubjective\u201d because of the language \u201caccording to local community values.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wallace gave public testimony, reading out loud from a sexually explicit section from one of the \u201cprofane\u201d books, which caused Campbell to cut her off \u2014 \u201cI think we get that, we might skip some of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not for y\u2019all,\u201d Wallace told the committee. \u201cIt\u2019s for the librarians that are saying, \u2018There\u2019s not a single bad book in all of Texas libraries.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The 90th Legislative Session begins on January 12, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Senate Committee on Education took up its 2026 interim charge of monitoring the implementation of Senate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[6591,368884,223,368883,234279,26610,368882,88,187283,368885,69651,368886,83660,368888,368890,368887,368889],"class_list":["post-876890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-angela-paxton","tag-bonnie-wallace","tag-books","tag-brent-hagenbuch","tag-charles-perry","tag-dan-patrick","tag-donna-campbell","tag-entertainment","tag-filth","tag-freedom-to-read-project","tag-jose-menendez","tag-library-books","tag-local-control","tag-senate-education-committee","tag-shannon-trejo","tag-smut","tag-von-byer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}