Report: Book Bans in Texas. One Year of SB 12 and SB 13 in School Libraries.

Background In the first half of 2026, seventy-five volunteers with Texas Freedom to Read Project sent public information requests to more than 900 Texas school districts in which we asked for information about book challenges and removals during the 2025-2026 school year, about the existence and composition of school library advisory councils (provided for in Senate Bill 13), and about guidance provided to librarians and school employees regarding the implementation of SB12, SB13, and HB900. We asked not only for records involving formal challenges to books, but also records of internal or informal reviews and weeding logs. We asked for emails or messages to district staff discussing or mandating the restriction or removal of books, for citizen feedback on proposed purchase lists, and for information on artificial intelligence systems and prompts used to review books.  We received usable responses from 538 districts, or approximately 45% of all school districts in Texas. From these responses, we compiled master lists of books removed and restricted in the state, classifying where possible the level (elementary, middle, high) from which each was removed or restricted, as well as the reason and the process for the removal or restriction. We also tabulated the number of districts with School Library Advisory Councils and tracked the actions of those councils, including their responses to formal book challenges.  It's important to note that our final restricted and removed books total is a significant undercount. The number captures data from less than 50% of Texas school districts and excludes book removals and restrictions that didn't have explicit school district documentation citing Texas legislation or content concerns as the reason for removal. This number also doesn't include public library book restrictions and removals.  One of the biggest hurdles we encountered gathering this data was how many school districts purposefully tried to hide or obscure records of book removals. In many instances, districts issued verbal directives to librarians to avoid creating paper trails & removed books without recording the real reason. We spoke with dozens of librarians across the state who were pressured into subverting their own district policies and ordered to quietly clear dozens, sometimes hundreds, of books from their catalogs. Most of these librarians would only speak to us on the condition of anonymity. In many cases, district administrators explained to librarians that they were removing books to 'stay out of the news' and avoid the crosshairs of aggressive politicians and censorship activists. We believe many districts are hiding their actions because they know their communities would never support this kind of censorship.