Morath Issues Precedent Setting Decision on School Library Book Challenges

Ruling: A school board must first make specific findings that library books challenged by a parent are either not “pervasively vulgar” or “educationally unsuitable” before the commissioner can properly rule on a parent’s appeal of the board’s conclusion that the books don’t fall into either category.

• Parent v. Lovejoy ISD, 073-R10-08-2024 ($), April 29, 2025, by Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
  
  

• Note: This decision was delivered within the context of:
  
  • The 2023 HB900/READER Act designed to keep (as defined in the legislation) “harmful,” “pervasively vulgar,” “sexually explicit” and/or “educationally unsuitable materials” out of school libraries (TEA summary).
    
    
  • A federal appeals court injunction that (for now) prevents implementation of a TEA managed system whereby any entity that sells library materials to public schools to assign “sexually explicit” and “sexually relevant” ratings to any material the vendor determines that meet’s the law’s definition of those terms.
    
    
  • Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) adoption of the school library collection development standards rule that aligns with the READER Act’s mandates (article).

Background

A LISD parent appealed to the commissioner after the school board denied her grievance seeking the removal of four books from LISD’s library. (The titles of the materials in question were not included in this commissioner’s decision.)