((Texas Tribune– Texas’s house gave initial approval on Monday a draft law that would give parents and school councils Texas a greater role on the books that students can reach in public school libraries.
Senate Bill 13 It would give school paintings, not school libraries secretaries, the final statement about the permitted subjects in their school libraries by creating a framework for them to remove books based on the complaints they receive. The draft law will allow school councils to supervise the approvals of books and remove books, or delegate the responsibility of the consulting councils for local schools if 20 % of parents fall into an area on a petition that allows them to be established.
Previously, SB 13 imposed the creation of those councils when it passed Senate In March, the requirements of the petition were added to the House of Representatives Committee.
SB 13, which was approved by the House of Representatives 87-57 at first, includes definitions of what constitutes harmful content and inappropriate content, prompting democratic actors to express concerns about the excessive ban on books.
During the discussion on the ground of the house, the MP. James TalaricoD-ASTIN, specifically refers to the Bell language that requires adopted books to adhere to the “local community values”, which he said may lead small groups of people to reduce access to the student book. Talarico said that the titles that are often taught in public schools – such as the mask in The Rye, Lonsome Dove and the Bible – may end up in light of some mysterious and subjective interpretations of the draft law.
“If your answer is banned on” Romeo and Juliet can be banned, “said Talarico.
representative. Irene ZwennerD-driftwood, also worried that the bill can lead to excessive broad books.
“What is inappropriate for a 17 -year -old child is not the same inappropriate for the five -year -old,” she said.
representative. Brad BuckleyThe patron of the House of Representatives, called the community, resides the “basis” of public policy, and the Republic of Salado refused the potential removal of the classics as a “red herring” argument.
“One of the speakers said before me that we must cherish the value of books. Well, perhaps, but I claim that we must cherish our children and appreciate them more, and the Senate Law of Law 13 will do so exactly.”
Actors supporting the draft law said that SB 13 will give parents better control over the materials that their children can reach. About 16 % of complaints about school libraries books last year started by parents, according to a report From the American Library Association, while 72 % of elected officials, pressure groups, members of the board of directors and officials came.
Several modifications have failed by Democratic actors who aim to reduce the language of the bill to obscene content. Amended by the deputy. Brent moneyR-Greenville, which also failed, would reduce the threshold to submit a petition to the establishment of a consulting council to 50 signs of parents, and it required that councils be compensated only by people who signed the petition.
The bill will also expand the regulations made by the law He passed in 2023 It aims to keep “sexually explicit” materials from school libraries.
The opponents of the draft law not only worried about restricting access to books, but also about the administrative accumulation that could be established by the approval of each new library book. School paintings will have 90 days after submitting complaints from each book to reach a decision on adding, keeping or removing materials from the shelves of textbooks.
Nearly 540 books were banned in Texas schools during the 2023-24 academic year, according to Pen America, an organization that tracked books around the country.
The draft law, one of the Lieutenant Senate Leader Dan PatrickThe legislative priorities are listed, and now it belongs to the upper room to be adopted.