book bans

A debate over books in Texas' public school libraries picked up new attention last week, when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened legislative action unless Texas school districts pull books from the shelves that he and certain activists believe are "harmful" to students and families and violate Texas' Senate Bill 13. In a meeting of Lubbock ISD's board of trustees, the district stood by the parent-led library council and book review system established under state law.

"We're coming for the books," the lieutenant governor said in announcing plans to lower the performance rating of Texas schools that violate a recent law targeting obscene titles in school libraries.

Oklahoma Republican lawmakers in the Senate advanced a measure to ban books containing sexually explicit material from public school library shelves on Wednesday, but as some Democrats have pointed out, it's not clear what that means.

Bookmarked, based in North Texas, advertises itself as "antivirus for libraries."

Despite objections from parents and students, Leavenworth School District Board of Education voted 4-3 this week to pass revisions to an education policy that bans “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” references in the district’s elementary library books.

Prison book programs have been sending free books to Texas prisons for years, but recently, they've been told they're no longer allowed to under a policy they say they've never heard of before.

The state’s teachers’ union said in a statement it would stand by the state’s public school teachers who “teach the truth.”

A federal judge in Austin temporarily blocked a new state law restricting which books are available in school libraries. The state then appealed. But whether or not the law is upheld, efforts to censor what students can read have intensified in Texas.

Board member Danny Zeck, a Republican from Leavenworth, alternately cursed, waved books he objected to, and raised concerns about the “Marxist lesbian” in charge of the American Library Association during a Kansas State Board of Education meeting this week, as other board members tried to redirect the conversation.

Texas had over 90 challenges of over 2,300 books, nearly double the number of attempts as the next state on the list.