DFW News App

Mansfield ISD is two years ahead of a proposed state law that could shift the decision-making power of school district libraries from librarians to school boards.The proposed law, Senate Bill 13, is making its way through the Texas Legislature and would mandate that all library books and materials receive school board approval before appearing on shelves. It would also give parents the power to challenge any library book and have it removed until the school board decides whether the contested material is allowed.The bill also bans books with “indecent content or profane content” and requires districts to have local advisory councils of residents who recommend which books be acquired or removed from libraries.Mansfield ISD has been adding similar rules to its local policy since 2023, rolling out content guidelines, an expanded book-challenge process and increased school board involvement in library decisions. Since fall 2023, trustees have approved lists of new library books at monthly board meetings — a practice not employed by most school districts, which commonly rely on district librarians to vet and approve books.Board President Keziah Valdes Farrar said she supports the state bill because essentially the district is already following its requirements.“Right now, we do have the final say-so on the books that are coming in; we’re approving those every month,” Valdes Farrar told attendees at a public meet-and-greet forum March 6. The forum was hosted by Valdes Farrar and two other Mansfield incumbents running for reelection in the May 3 election.Book-screening process, sensitive content ratingsBefore books end up on school board agendas for approval, the district’s coordinator of library services looks through the material to ensure it aligns with Mansfield ISD’s rubric, Valdes Farrar said. The rubric guides officials in how to grade the prevalence of sensitive book themes like profanity, sexual activities and drug or alcohol use. Trustees adopted the guidelines in 2023. Before then, librarians evaluated books using state guidelines and recommendations from national librarian organizations.How does Mansfield ISD evaluate books?

The school board and district officials created their own rubric to limit the amount of intimacy, sexual explicitness, violence, bullying and nudity in books available in MISD libraries. Guidelines vary by grade level.

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}}))}();

For example, a book in which “brief descriptions of nonsexual nudity” is “common” is allowed in high school libraries, but only allowed in middle school if there is “some,” but it is not a main theme. Books with nonsexual nudity content at any level are banned from elementary schools.Trustees have not pulled any books from the library purchase list in the two years they’ve voted to approve items. “I think it’s great that nothing has had to be pulled,” Valdes Farrar said. “That means that the teachers know what can be purchased, and the librarian knows what can be run through the rubric, and so I feel like that policy is doing its job.”The rubric aligns with the mission of a 2023 state law aiming to keep sexually explicit content off of bookshelves. In 2024, a federal appeals court blocked Texas from enforcing parts of the law that made book vendors assign ratings to books based on sexual content, saying it was unconstitutionally broad. “As a parent, it makes me feel good knowing there’s not going to be books that have explicit sexual content,” Valdes Farrar said.Challenging library booksMansfield ISD’s policy also closely aligns with a portion of SB 13 that gives parents the power to challenge and remove potentially offensive library books.The district has a book-challenge process that allows community members to formally push for the removal of library materials. If a book is challenged, a committee of parents, teachers and students review it and determine whether it’s appropriate.In 2023, trustees floated a change to the process that would have excluded community members from the committee. The proposal drew community backlash, both for its changes to committees and its restrictions on LGBTQ+-themed books. Under the proposed rules, the rubric would have restricted material that included terms like “gender fluidity.”About 50 community members showed up to speak to the board about the rules — some in support, but most in protest. Multiple district librarians argued the policy took power from library experts and gave it to the school board.“I have the utmost confidence in our librarians to nurture and protect our children within their expert discretion in choosing learning materials,” said Mansfield ISD resident Christian Conatser at a May 23, 2023, meeting. “I also have confidence that the current policy allows parents to protect their children according to their own values.”A month after the community protests, trustees adopted a watered-down version of the rules that left LGBTQ+ topics out of the sensitive content rubric and continued including outside community members in the book review committee.Two books have been formally challenged in the nearly three years Mansfield ISD has employed the stricter policy.Both of these challenges were brought by Valdes Farrar and sought to remove the books “The Bluest Eye” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which explore race and LGBTQ+ issues. The challenges failed, and the books remained on library shelves.The Texas Senate Education Committee backed the bill in a 10-1 vote March 4, sending the proposal to the full Senate for review.Drew Shaw is a local government accountability for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.