Texas Takes Break From Banning Books, Will Now Mandate Certain Ones

As early as the 2027-2028 school year, Texas will become the first state to implement a statewide reading requirement for each grade level. The list, currently being workshopped by the Republican-dominated Texas Board of Education, pends as the state-banned book list lengthens and the gaps on library shelves grow. 

The required readings, paired with a list of mandated vocabulary, are a result of an education bill passed in 2023, House Bill 1605. The lengthy bill, described by the Texas American Federation of Teachers as a “behemoth,” modified a number of approval processes for curriculum and materials, and was marketed by author Rep. Brad Buckley as a “back to basics” effort. Buckley is one of the driving forces behind some of the most notable education legislation that passed in the last session, like school vouchers. 

The books will be selected by the 15-person board, which comprises 10 Republicans and five Democrats. According to reporting from the Houston Chronicle, a supplemental list, which has not been publicly published, was modeled after existing lists enforced in school districts and private schools across the state, including one from St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas. 

“There’s never been a more important time to double down on student achievement with a high bar,” Buckley said while workshopping the bill during the 88th Legislative Session. “You will get from students what you expect from them.”

According to the same report, titles discussed during a presentation from the Texas Education Agency included Jack and the Beanstalk for elementary students, as well as novels such as The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet. 

The State Of Books

Books are flying off shelves in Texas, and not because students are checking out all of them. Already having the second-most-banned books in the country, the state legislature cleared a controversial bill this last session that complicated the library book approval process. The law, which took effect in September, transferred the responsibility of adding new books to library shelves from librarians to the district board. If a school board decides or if a certain number of parents petition, the district must form a School Library Approval Council (SLAC), comprising community members, to individually approve each title submitted by the district’s librarians. 

Many districts across the state are confused about the “quagmire” of a law, implementing a SLAC without being petitioned, according to Laney Hawes, cofounder of the Texas Freedom To Read Project. 

Before it passed, Hawes, along with several librarians, urged lawmakers to vote against the bill, warning of the delays it would cause in acquiring new books. Ultimately, the bill passed largely along party lines. 

“This is so ridiculous,” Laney Hawes, co-founder of Texas Freedom To Read Project, said. “You don’t need these steps to hinder the process of getting books into your libraries. There are still guidelines and regulations. A SLAC adds what we feel is an insurmountable list of guidelines and timelines that are just going to make book buying nearly impossible.”

Immediately, problems arose within the law. For instance, the law requires every version of a book to be approved, meaning a paperback version, an audiobook version or a Spanish version of the same novel all have to be individually approved. Secondly, SLACs are only required to meet twice a school year, and librarians cannot even file the order forms until the books are approved. Earlier this month, the Observer counted the number of books pending approval in North Texas districts, tallying over 23,000 total, and an average of 2,900 books waiting per school district. 

Some districts had classic literature, such as Charlotte’s Web, waiting for the green light. Other districts were waiting on informational picture-heavy books like The NASCAR Encyclopedia. 

By law, titles pending approval must be available online for parents to review at least 30 days before the school board or a SLAC convenes, so if a librarian does not submit their requests a month before the scheduled meeting, they would have to wait until the next meeting, usually in the following semester months away. Even after a book is approved, librarians still have to wait the standard 45 days for a library order to be fulfilled. Most districts set their meetings in October, so after all is said and done, librarians with eager students requesting novels would not have them until December or January. 

“We just really wish people realized what this is actually going to do, and that is, it’s going to bring book buying in districts to a teeny, tiny, very slow trickle, if not a screeching halt,” Hawes said before the law went into effect. 

An Ironic Recommendation

One of the standout suggestions for the state’s required reading plans for older students is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel inspired by the massive book-burning initiative perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II. Ironically, the book about censorship has historically been one of the most banned books by school districts across the nation, and was one of the most frequently challenged novels in the early 2000s, according to the American Library Association. 

Less than 10 years ago, Fahrenheit 451 was challenged in the Conroe Independent School District, after a parent took issue with the novel’s use of profanity, mention of drugs and alcohol and allegedly sacrilegious references to the Bible and God. The district voted not to remove the novel. However, it has remained controversial and has frequently been misreported as banned in the Frisco Independent School District, which had a number of novels challenged by the city’s Rep. Jared Patterson. 

A bill, the READER Act, that would have banned all books with sexual content from schools, filed by Patterson, was eventually signed into law. In a full-circle moment, Patterson himself referenced the Ray Bradbury classic while discussing the law. 

“This is not a ‘Fahrenheit 451‘-style book ban,” Patterson said when the bill passed. 

 A federal court ruled the law unconstitutional, and it was subsequently struck down permanently. However, well over 1,500 books remain banned across the state, which has one of the worst literacy rates.