A new series of standards for how Texas public school libraries develop their collections will go into effect next year.
At a meeting held on December 13, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) approved new standards aimed at keeping sexually explicit materials out of school libraries. It was approved in a 13-1 vote, with only SBOE member Aicha Davis (D-Dallas) dissenting. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) voted unanimously to adopt the standards the following day.
TSLAC has been developing the standards since the summer to comply with the READER Act (HB 900), which was passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year. The commission submitted a draft of its new standards to SBOE members and received feedback, which it included in the most recent version voted on last week.
In all, there are 10 standards for adding to public school libraries, which establish considerable oversight on the part of local school boards and parents and guidelines for identifying educationally relevant and age-appropriate content.
For instance, the standards describe how a potential book for a library collection should be evaluated in terms of how it contributes to the school’s curriculum and whether it properly conveys societal standards and values.
“I appreciate the effort you’re taking to make our districts accountable,” Jackie Besinger, the parent of a Texas student, told SBOE members during last week’s meeting, according to the Texas Scorecard.
The recommendations of parents and members of the public will also be taken into consideration when adding to school library collections. A process for fielding and processing reconsideration requests submitted by the public was also established. According to the new process, a school district is not required to reconsider an item within two calendar years of having already done so.
“The whole point of a reconsideration process is to wear down a parent and keep the book,” claimed Tracy Shannon, another Texas parent, per the Texas Scorecard.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, there has been some consternation this year over the discovery of books containing what some consider to be harmful or pornographic material on the shelves of public school libraries across the state. In some districts, like Dallas ISD, parents have voiced concerns about such alleged material being accessible to students.
“This is horrifying that parents have to fight to have this kind of content pulled from shelves. Would you let your child read these books?” the advocacy group Citizens Defending Freedom wrote on social media this fall.
For some stakeholders, these incidents represented a call for action, and Texas lawmakers responded in kind with the READER Act, which institutes standards for library collections and bars vendors from selling books to school districts that are determined to be sexually explicit. Other measures with similar aims, such as HB 1605, were passed by the state legislature this year.
SBOE members also weighed in on the selection of instructional materials at public school districts last week, as reported by The Dallas Express. They developed an Instructional Materials Review and Approval process that is meant to help determine what materials are suitable for students and assess their quality and alignment with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards.