A measure filed in the Texas Senate would expand parental rights and existing protections against explicit books in the state’s public school system.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick listed “Guarding Against Inappropriate Books in Public Schools” as one of his top 25 priorities this session.
Senate Bill 13, filed by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), would institute “library advisory councils” consisting of at least five members appointed by the school district’s board of trustees to oversee the procurement of new books.
A majority of the council’s members must be parents of district students and cannot be employed by the district. The board of trustees also has the discretion to appoint one or more nonvoting members from the public.
“The board of trustees of a school district shall adopt a policy for the acquisition of library materials,” reads the measure. “The policy must require the board to … approve all library materials that have been donated to or that are to be procured by a school library in the district, with the advice and recommendations of the district’s local school library advisory council.”
SB 13 would also expand the definition of what constitutes harmful material and require the board of trustees to publicize the list of newly proposed library materials for at least 30 days before final approval.
In addition, the measure establishes new procedures for parents to block their children’s access to problematic library content. Alongside the proposed library advisory councils, SB 13 stipulates that any material challenged via the grievance process be temporarily withheld until the process is completed.
“Parents across Texas are rightly concerned about some of the materials available to their children in school libraries,” stated Paxton. “While progress was made last session, more must be done to create clear standards and strengthen safeguards. Senate Bill 13 enhances transparency and accountability, ensuring that school libraries are a safe and appropriate environment for students.”
Paxton said the measure builds on House Bill 900, which was first introduced by State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) and became law in 2023.
The law established basic standards of what constitutes sexually explicit material to tackle certain egregious examples of harmful books.
HB 900 also requires book providers to establish a rating system before selling their material to Texas school districts. However, that provision was blocked from taking effect by the federal courts in April 2024.
Bonnie Wallace, a children’s advocate who has tirelessly pursued numerous challenges to explicit material in school libraries across Texas, told Texas Scorecard that Paxton’s proposal was a good start, but more work is still needed.
“I am delighted when any elected official rises to the challenge of protecting Texas children!” said Wallace. “Sen. Paxton’s bill has some very important elements, such as giving taxpayers who reside in the district standing to challenge books or curricula that their tax dollars are spent on.”
“One of the ways Senator Paxton can improve SB 13 is to add an enforcement mechanism,” she continued. “There must be a penalty for disregarding it, yet there is no penalty in the measure right now. Another improvement would be indemnifying SLAC members because they will be sued, like me, for serving on the Llano County Library Advisory Board.”
Wallace said she wants to see further improvements in how SB 13 seeks to bolster parental rights, pointing out that “realistically, there is no way that parents will know all of the bad books.”
“At the very least, parents should be able to opt out of topics without having to name each book. Books with harmful content should NOT BE IN SCHOOLS, regardless of whether parents try to opt them out,” insisted Wallace.
Apart from Paxton’s SB 13, both Patterson and State Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) have proposed new legislation aimed at expanding HB 900 protections against harmful material in school libraries.
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
