AUSTIN, Texas — On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott held a signing event for bills focused on what he calls “parental empowerment.”
The bills were passed during the 88th regular legislative session.
House Bill 900 bans public school libraries from acquiring explicit books and other materials. The law will mean book vendors will have to assign ratings to books based on depictions or references to sex. Books that are rated “sexually explicit” will be removed from shelves. Books that reference sex but are part of a required school curriculum will be rated “sexually relevant” and parental permission will be required for students to check them out.
Critics say the costs of the law could undermine school libraries altogether as vendors pull out of selling books to Texas or use third-party contractors to rate books. Former Texas State Library and Archives Commission Director Mark Smith told The Texas Tribune the law will greatly slow the acquisition of materials by school libraries.
House Bill 1605 allows parents access to review instructional materials. House Bill 1926 removes the cap on the total amount of funds that can be used for the supplemental special education services program each year.
House Bill 3803 allows parents to determine if their child should repeat a grade level for fourth through eighth grades or a high school-level course. Texas students in grades four through eight are eligible to retake any course in which they were enrolled in the previous year unless the student has already met all requirements for graduation.
"The House and Senate did a great job to provide transformative changes for education in the state of Texas," Abbott said in a press release. "Today, I will sign four bills into law that grant parents more rights in the education of their children. One of those bills transforms school curriculum, improving it for Texas parents, students, and teachers. We will empower parents of students with special needs with the tools and resources they need to provide their child with the best education. I will also sign a law where parents – not school administrators – have the option to determine whether it’s in the child’s best interest to repeat a grade level. Additionally, parents deserve to know what books are in school libraries. I'm signing a law that gets inappropriate or vulgar materials out of our schools."