News & Updates

On January 14, 2025, the Texas Legislature commenced its 89th regular legislative session to set policy goals and advance bills that will impact residents statewide.

Beyond bills that attempt to criminalize the profession of librarianship and take away funding from public schools, Texas representatives have filed bills that would attack booksellers and establish subjective criteria for approving or restricting instructional materials in public schools. 

On January 14, the Texas state legislature reconvened for its 89th legislative session. The pre-filed legislation reveals that members are prioritizing a variety of issues, especially vouchers that would reduce funding for public schools.

In August, Katy ISD’s school board adopted a revision to the EFB Local library book policy that prohibits books that “promote gender fluidity” in elementary & junior high, & requires parent opt-in for high school students. 

According to information obtained by public information request, Katy ISD campus librarians were informed in early October that students are to be prohibited from checking out over 400 books that the District marked “FA(Local)” in the District wide Destiny library catalog.

Today, December 3, 2024 marks the first birthday of Texas Freedom to Read Project- and perhaps serendipitously -Giving Tuesday. Texas Freedom to Read Project is a Texas parent-founded, parent-led, volunteer-run 501c3 nonprofit. 

Katy ISD added 14 titles to their list of "removed" (ie: banned) books last week- bringing the total books banned since August 2024 to thirty four. This month's additions include widely read, and lauded, works like Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

The majority of affected titles continue to correspond with a list of 676 titles provided to public school districts throughout Texas, by extremist, pro-censorship group- Citizens Defending Freedom- following a visit from CDF affiliated Remnant Alliance "pastors" to Katy ISD's April 2024 board meeting.

This means, that a group that has been labeled "anti-government" by the SPLC- that has been embraced by sitting Katy ISD school board trustees- is driving the demands to censor and ban books in Katy ISD, not Katy ISD parents, residents or students. 

Guest Blog Post by Montgomery County Library Supporter, Village Books Owner and friend of Texas Freedom to Read Project- Teresa Kenney

The Montgomery County Memorial Library System’s citizens review committee is once again on the Montgomery County Commissioners’ meeting agenda for October 22. We need everyone who is able to come out to court to speak out against the policy or to support those who do.

Here at Texas Freedom to Read Project we often feel disappointed and dismayed at the censorship attempts we see across the state, but we rarely feel surprised. However, this week, we learned about an incident that floored us. Thanks to the work of a concerned citizen, we discovered that the Montgomery County Citizens Review Committee (completely void of librarians) has ordered a juvenile nonfiction book- that documents American history from the perspective of the Wampanoag tribe-to be moved from the Juvenile Nonfiction Collection to the Fiction Collection of the Montgomery County Memorial Public Library.