During a Senate Education Committee hearing Wednesday, lawmakers heard about what some speakers called loopholes in Senate Bill 13, one of a slate of "parental rights" bills passed in the last session.
It gave school boards, instead of librarians, final say on the materials allowed in school libraries, and gave districts the option of creating School Library Advisory Councils to oversee approval of new books.
Denton-area state Sen. Brent Hagenbuch said despite the law, some books containing explicit material still remain in school libraries. He cited a podcast with Lt.
Gov. Dan Patrick and conservative and controversial activist Bonnie Wallace, who told Patrick "20% of school districts" have removed books by local councils, "but 80% have done nothing." Books she deems indecent, profane or educationally unsuitable remain or may remain on library shelves.
"It sounds like, if this is accurate, the law's not really having the effect that we had hoped," Hagenbuch said. "I think part of the issue is that the law really doesn't address the books that are on the shelves." In response, Shannon Trejo, the deputy commissioner in the Texas Education Agency's Office of School Programs, agreed, saying many school districts don't have an online catalogue of books in their libraries.