public education - Courier Texas

Advocate warns new law will destroy public school libraries

| July 15, 2025

Laney Hawes, co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, breaks down Senate Bill 13, which gives school boards more power than librarians.

How to fight Texas’ ‘trash’ school library censorship policies

by Joi Louviere

| July 3, 2025

Senate Bill 13, which literacy advocates say will destroy public school libraries and make book banning easier in Texas, takes power away from public school librarians and gives it to school boards and parents instead. But local advocates like Laney Hawes, co-director of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, are fighting back. SB 13 creates an advisory committee made up of parents that school boards can delegate decision making to, but there’s an option in the new law that allows districts to not adopt the council. “ Our recommendation is, to districts, do not approve the library council in your school districts because it doesn't work,” Hawes told COURIER Texas. “It wasn't written to work. Don't do it. It's too many steps, and it’s going to destroy your school library.”

Book Banning in Texas Public Schools Just Got Easier

by Katie Serrano

| June 11, 2025

From taking power away from school librarians to requiring age verification in public libraries, book banning was top-of-mind for Republican lawmakers in Texas this legislative session. To see which bills passed, check the link in bio.