Urgent: The State Wide Reading List is Back.

In January so many of you reached out to the State Board of Education (SBOE) in opposition to the proposed mandatory reading list that the board punted on its plan to impose a rigid reading curriculum on all schools across the state, pushing off any action on the issue until April.

Well, it’s April. 

Consideration of a mandatory literary works (aka required reading) list is back on the board’s agenda for next Tuesday, April 7, and we need your help in letting the board know that the current options on the table are still too restrictive. If adopted as-is, the lists under consideration would stifle a wide range of ideas and funnel students toward a narrow, tightly controlled worldview. And they would leave teachers with little flexibility to provide books that resonate with their students’ experiences or present diverse perspectives. 

The good news?

There was so much opposition to TEA’s original list that an alternative reading list has been proposed, and that list does represent a (slight) improvement over the original. At the January meeting, board member Will Hickman proposed this list, which removes many of the shorter texts that would be mandatory under the TEA plan, and incorporates more contemporary texts and topics.

The bad news?

Hickman’s list is still too long; it mandates 4-6 long texts (novels, plays, etc.) per year in grades 7-12, which would leave teachers with little time to teach anything but the assigned works, essentially banning from the curriculum any long text that doesn’t already appear on the list. Hickman’s list also lacks real diversity–for example, it does not include a single Hispanic author for grades 9-12, an unforgivable oversight in a state where the majority of public school students are Hispanic.

On top of that, TEA’s initial list is still on the table, and has the support of some members of the board.

We need to let board members know that both lists are unacceptable, and that decisions about what texts to read in class are best made at the local level, not imposed on high by fifteen politicians in Austin.

How can you help?

There are three great ways to make your voice heard on this issue.

1. Testify in person on Tuesday, April 7. Sign up for in-person public comments closes at 5PM on FRIDAY, APRIL 3 (TOMORROW). We NEED folks to show up in person in Austin on Tuesday, April 7 for public comment on the proposed reading lists. Board members need to hear directly from us–parents, teachers, librarians, readers–about the damage these lists will do to literary education in Texas.

The other side has already put out calls to action to try to get supporters of the lists to show up. We need to outnumber them. 

Even if you’re not sure you can make it, or even if you’re just considering it,  please sign up NOW.  It’s okay if you need to cancel or even if you show up Tuesday and you aren’t able to stay.

When you sign up to speak, choose "Committee of the Full Board (April 7, 2026)"

Sign up here: SBOE Public Testimony Registration

2. Submit a written informal comment on BOTH proposed reading lists, through the TEA SBOE website. Note, the comment window closes on Saturday, April 4 at 5:00PM. So be sure to submit your comment(s) ASAP! 

Submit a written informal comment here: Submit a written informal comment

3. Send an email. You can reach the entire State Board of Education at this address which will send an email to all SBOE members: [email protected]. Additionally, you contact your specific state board member individually for an additional message here: SBOE Individual Email Addresses

If you sign up to speak, or plan on attending to watch, please email us at: [email protected].  We will help connect everyone so those attending and speaking can watch and participate together. 

Thank you!