New Braunfels ISD bans 600+ books, ages up 800+ titles using AI & overly-restrictive selection criteria.

*This post is part of a series by Texas Freedom to Read Project, utilizing records collected by volunteers through Public Information Requests to document the impact of laws like House Bill 900, Senate Bill 12, and Senate Bill 13.*

New Braunfels ISD made headlines at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, when the school board abruptly ordered the closure of all secondary libraries under the guise of ensuring compliance with Senate Bill 13. This decision followed public (baseless) allegations, complaints, and harassment of district staff and trustees by in and out of district activists over library books. 

After vocal community outcry, the NBISD school board instructed the district to re-open the libraries, while simultaneously ordering an extensive internal review of the district’s entire library collection at all campus levels. 

The school libraries may be open- but according to public documents obtained by a volunteer for Texas Freedom to Read Project- books are being removed and restricted at an alarming rate.

At the same time, library book purchasing is suspended indefinitely, meaning allocated and approved 2025-2026 campus library budgets are sitting unspent. NBISD students are unlikely to see any new titles in their libraries before school lets out for summer break. 

As of February 2026, New Braunfels ISD has removed more than 600 books from its high schools in response to new laws. Additionally, over 800 books have been removed from district middle schools and aged up to the high schools and approximately 60 titles have been removed from New Braunfels ISD elementary school libraries.

While over 450 books are publicly listed as “under review” on the district website, others have been quietly removed behind the scenes. In total, 678 titles are listed on internal tracking logs, obtained through public information requests, as “weeded: SB13.” 

“Weeding” is a normal, necessary, and uncontroversial practice to maintain a healthy and thriving library. That said, so is acquisition and purchasing. When librarians are forced to “weed” their collections based on politically and ideologically driven criteria set by elected school board members- and given no opportunity to purchase and acquire new material- results are shrunken collections with shelves full of gaps- both physical and educational.

The books “weeded” (i.e., banned) from high school libraries include Gone with the Wind, War and Peace, The Three Musketeers, Murder on the Orient Express, and biographies of Katie Ledecky, Oprah, Lebron James, and Andre Agassi. Notable titles removed from middle school libraries include Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, and a 2024 publication of The Guinness Book of World Records.

New Braunfels ISD’s use of overly-restrictive library book selection criteria is a problem.

The district appears to be eliminating any book with an adult tag, or reviewed for adult audiences, from school libraries. According to NBISD’s Library Book Selection Guide  district staff are to ensure every book in the campus library collection meets all five selection criteria. 

It appears the criteria used to determine age appropriateness may be to blame for the majority of books being restricted, “replaced” (aged up), and removed from New Braunfels ISD campus libraries. While the EFB Local selection criteria indicates librarians should “use caution” when considering books reviewed for audiences older than the campus population, it appears the district may be overriding librarian expertise and professional judgment, and instead ordering the restriction and removal of such materials.  

Based on the titles that have been removed, it appears if a book is not explicitly categorized as having been written for children, then not even high school students (some of whom are legally considered adults- by the way) can have access to it in their libraries. 

There is a partial exception for books that have specifically appeared on the AP Literature exam. Those books haven’t been discarded, but they are listed as restricted, and it is unclear under what conditions high school students may access them. This includes books like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is exacerbating book bans in New Braunfels ISD. 

AI has driven the removals and restrictions of books from New Braunfels ISD school libraries. In a recent interview with Texas Standard, Bayliss Wagner reported that New Braunfels ISD used a controversial AI-powered “tool,” Bookmarked, to initially identify the first 450 books put under review, following the closure of secondary libraries by the school board at the beginning of the year. 

According to the NBISD website, the district is using a committee of staff members to evaluate the books it initially flagged using AI. According to recent reporting by Erica Wilson of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, the committee tasked with reviewing hundreds of books for compliance with Senate Bill 13 is comprised of a retired educator and a retired librarian.  While most of those books were pulled from shelves in November, fewer than half have completed the review process. Books pulled for this internal review process remain off the shelves and unavailable to students, unless the review committee decides to return them to circulation. Notably, this internal review process does not include any district parents or community members. Instead, the district website says community members who disagree with the review committee’s decision to remove a book, may appeal the removal by filing and following the formal grievance process. 

Somewhere along the way, according to the public records obtained by a Texas Freedom to Read Project volunteer, the district began using an internal AI query to identify and evaluate books to remove.  The district provided an extensive 75 page list of library book titles labeled “Books to be Reviewed by AI”- indicating they are relying more heavily on AI than what we have observed in other Texas districts.

The use of AI by school districts and library systems to “review” books for compliance with specific local policies and laws raises a lot of red flags. As author, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, points out in an interview with 404 Media, “Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another.” 

Act now to defend the freedom to read and support New Braunfels ISD libraries. 

New Braunfels ISD parents, students, and community members must take action to stop the purge of library books from NBISD shelves and defend the freedom to read in their community. 

Address the NBISD School Board

• EFB Local (Library Materials policy) is on the school board meeting agenda for Monday, March 16. It is listed as agenda item: 7.E.
• Speaker sign-up instructions and form can be found here. 

Can’t attend and speak at Monday’s meeting?

Click here to email the NBISD School Board. 

These problems are not contained to New Braunfels ISD. 

What’s happening to New Braunfels ISD libraries is not happening in isolation. Districts like North East ISD (San Antonio, TX), Katy ISD (Katy, TX), and United ISD (Laredo, TX) are also removing large quantities of school library books- citing state laws like House Bill 900, Senate Bill 12, and Senate Bill 13 as justification. 

State laws, local library policies put into place by elected school board trustees, and districts increasing reliance on AI- rather than professional, certified librarians- are exacerbating book bans and censorship across the state. 

Take action in your community to defend book bans and stop censorship, now. If you’re not sure where to start, check out Turning the Page:an Advocate's Guide to the Freedom to Read by our friends at Freedom to Read Project, or contact us for support. 

A note on our data and information provided.

We acknowledge there are discrepancies between the "Books Pulled by Who and Why" spreadsheets and NBISD Library Catalogs which still show some of the "weeded: SB 13," aged up, and restricted titles listed as "available." New Braunfels ISD provided the "Books Pulled by Who and Why" spreadsheets in response to a request for records of books "removed" or "deleted" since June 1, 2025, so that is what our conclusions and statements are based on. Unless we are otherwise informed, we anticipate the books listed as "weeded: SB 13" in the spreadsheets provided by NBISD have already been, or will imminently, be removed.