*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.

{Guest Blog Post by Rachael Welsh} In May of this year, several newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, published a list of books to read over the summer. While this would normally be an eventful article, a list of books for vacations and poolside reading, there was a problem with this list: ten of the fifteen books weren’t real. 

No - this is not the latest satirical headline at The Onion. This is reality for the 49,000+ students who attend Lamar Consolidated ISD schools.

A public information request filed by Texas Freedom to Read Project confirmed that LCISD removed over 700 books from classrooms and school libraries at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.