AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- The State Board of Education on Wednesday is expected to approve new rules that school libraries must follow when procuring books, acting on a new law designed to prohibit explicit material.
The Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act -- the READER Act -- requires book vendors to establish a "rating" for each book they sell to libraries. Gov. Abbott signed it into law in June.
“Without attaching any religious, political or cultural belief, this bill does one thing and one thing only — restricts explicit books from unaccompanied minors in Texas public schools,” the bill's author, Plano Republican representative Jared Patterson, told lawmakers during the regular legislative session.
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The bill requires the State Board to approve new standards that school districts must follow when developing their library collection. Those standards prohibit the purchase of "harmful," "sexually explicit," and "vulgar" material.
Districts must also adopt a policy that "recognizes that parents are the primary decision-makers regarding a student's access to library material."
Addressing criticism that the bill could amount to political or religious censorship, the bill prohibits schools from removing material based solely on "the ideas contained in the material" or the "personal background of the author... or characters."
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Under the law, book vendors cannot sell to schools unless they issue ratings regarding sexually explicit material. Students are prohibited from checking out the books rated as explicit without written consent from a parent or guardian.
The State Board of Education is set to approve their new standards during their Wednesday meeting. They commenced at 9 a.m. This coverage will be updated after the Board takes action concerning the READER Act.
