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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott has joined a Conservative Republican legislature’s campaign to examine books dealing with race, gender identity, and sexual orientation in public schools.
State Representative Matt Krause, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry, has sent state and local school officials a list of more than 800 books on these and related subjects and asked them to search their campus for the books. Krause would like the schools to communicate which books they have, how many, where they are kept and how they were paid for.
Many of the books on the list are written by women, black people, and LGBTQ authors, and cover topics such as teenage pregnancy and abortion. The investigation into Krause comes after Abbott signed a law similar to those approved by lawmakers in other GOP-controlled states that restricts how race and racism can be taught in schools. In Texas, that includes the idea that the rise of slavery in what is now the United States is the real founding of the nation.
Critical racial theory – an academic way of thinking about American history through the lens of racism – became a lightning rod for the Republican-dominated legislature that year.
In a letter first reported by the Texas Tribune, the Fort Worth Republican also requested that school districts report any other books that cause or cause students “guilt, fear, or any other form of psychological distress due to race or gender could convey that a student, whether consciously or unconsciously, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive because of their race or gender. “
Krause’s list included such famous works as “The Confessions of Nat Turner,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by William Styron, “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving, the graphic novel version of “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson.
Krause challenges incumbent Ken Paxton to nominate Republican attorney general for next year’s primary. He gave the districts until November 12 to respond, but did not state why he wanted the information or what the consequences of non-compliance would be.
Krause didn’t respond to a phone message from The Associated Press, but The Tribune reported that he declined to comment.
In a letter Monday, Abbott warned the head of the Texas Association of School Boards that parents are concerned that schools are exposing their students to “pornography or other inappropriate content” even though the group has no role in approving what students read or learn.
“A growing number of parents of Texas students are becoming increasingly concerned about some of the books and other content found in public school libraries that are extremely unsuitable for the public education system. The most glaring examples are clearly pornographic images and content that have no place in the Texas education system, ”wrote the Republican governor to the association’s executive director, Dan Troxell.
Abbott, who is running for re-election, did not provide any information about which images he considered pornographic or what content he considered inappropriate.
The school board said in a statement that most districts leave the supervision of library materials to individual district administrations and staff.
“The primary role of a school committee includes drawing up a strategic plan for the district, approving guidelines in public meetings, approving the district budget, and selecting and evaluating a school principal,” the association said.
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https://www.chron.com/news/article/Texas-governor-Greg-Abbott-book-ban-16584491.php
