Texas Freedom to Read Project

Happy Valentine’s Day Y’all!

Yes! We’re mobilizing and bringing people together to fight!

If you don't know where to send great book-themed V-Day cards, I recommend Tx State Rep Hillary Hickland, who just called anyone upset about books being banned from schools a "groomer" who shouldn't be near kids. Reach out & let her know what you think: hillary.hickland@house.texas.gov

Happy Valentines Week fellow book lovers, enjoy! Feel free to screenshot our literary themed Valentines to send to your loved ones. And if you’d like the whole PDF to download and print, you can find it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1KzV_fTC6FfPgn-ZD6s7bJ0If-PtpSCw2/view?usp=drive_link❤️📖💕💌📚💘

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And if you’d like to donate to our org: www.txftrp.org/donate /2

Happy Valentines Week fellow book lovers, enjoy! Feel free to screenshot our literary themed Valentines to send to your loved ones. And if you’d like the whole PDF to download and print, you can find it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1KzV_fTC6FfPgn-ZD6s7bJ0If-PtpSCw2/view?usp=drive_link❤️📖💕💌📚💘

A reminder walking back problematic policy decisions- and restoring access to censored books- is a choice. A choice we hope to see more Texas school boards take this year.

Cy-Fair ISD board reverses course, restores banned textbook chapters The Cy-Fair ISD board reinstated 13 chapters from five textbooks that were censored by the board's previous conservative majority. It marked the first rollback of policies by the new board .

On Monday, Cyfair ISD’s recently elected 4-3 pro-public ed majority took decisive action to walk back the removal of 13 TEA/SBOE approved textbook chapters, censored by their prior board majority.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Conroe ISD Attempts to Quietly Ignore Black History Month Recent changes to board policy goes beyond Texas law, giving way for the district to pass over commemorative months that celebrate the histories and contributions of minority communities.

Conroe ISD cancelled Black history month. Then walked it back.

Acknowledging Black history should not be subject to partisan political whims.

Advocates warned SB 12 would be used to censor and silence diverse viewpoints. And they were right.

www.wehavequorum.net/p/conroe-isd...

We are so thankful to @PBS Independent Lens for supporting our film and proud to say it is airing on PBS starting Monday at 12 ET streaming or airing on your local PBS on Independent Lens. We are so proud of this film and the advocates in it. 💕📚Please tune in!

And Dr. Lee’s contact info to send him a note of thanks or encouragement here:

www.seguin.k12.tx.us/page/superin...

YouTube video by Seguin ISD Seguin ISD Regular Board Meeting 01.20.26

Find the entire Seguin ISD public forum from the Jan 20 meeting here:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ru6...

If you’re local to Seguin ISD- heck, even if you’re not- we invite you to join us in THANKING Dr. Lee for modeling how Superintendents can stand up and speak truth in the face of lies and misinformation causing so much harm to our public schools and school libraries.

But it’s what happened about 27 minutes in that left us speechless.

Watching Seguin ISD superintendent, Dr. Jack Lee, leave his seat at the dais and deliver a 3 minute public comment in support and defense of his teachers and librarians, & the freedom to read was remarkable.

(Edited for brevity)

The entire public forum from the January 20 Seguin ISD meeting is a master class in how parents, students, and community members can speak up in support of librarians, teachers, and the freedom to read- in the face of attacks on intellectual freedom, serial book challengers, and outside agitators.

Texas Board of Education delays vote on reading list Faced with a proposed list of almost 300 readings for K-12 students, the State Board of Education delayed a vote until its meetings in April.

It feels good to have a voice! Proposed reading list for Texas students draws concern over religious themes, lack of diversity www.texastribune.org/2026/01/28/t... @txfreedomread.bsky.social @freadomfighters.bsky.social @frankstrong.bsky.social

BIG UPDATE: The State Board of Education decided NOT to vote on this awful reading list until April, pending feedback from teachers and community members. This is a temporary, partial, but very real victory! They listened to us!

Find the entire list of proposed REQUIRED materials here.

tea.texas.gov/academics/in...

Y’all- have you contacted the SBOE yet?

Email sboesupport@tea.texas.gov and tell them what you think about the state’s plan to mandate Bible stories written by “The State of Texas.”

Meanwhile they’ve banned Kipling’s The Jungle Book and The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer to “comply with HB 900.” 🤔

Contact Follow the Texas Freedom to Read Project on social media & get in touch.

And to anyone not on our email list, sign up and we’ll send you more details about this book list and more important info just like this about the freedom to read in the state of Texas. Sign up here: www.txftrp.org/contact

Email SBOE here: sboesupport@tea.texas.gov. To those who live in/near Austin, we REALLY need your voice at the meeting. You must sign up TODAY 1/23/26 by 5pm. Meeting starts @9 on 1/28 but the discussion is near the end of the agenda. If you can attend, let us know! sboe.texas.gov/about-tea/le...

Call to Action: The State Board of Education is considering a list of required readings. It's bad. We need your help to stop it.

We need Texas parents, educators, and citizens to chime in and share feedback with the SBOE before their meeting this Wednesday. Learn more about why we find the list problematic at our co-founder @frankstrong.bsky.social’s substack: franklinstrong.substack.com/p/call-to-ac...

While the list includes some important & worthwhile titles, it is seriously limited and lacking. It’s also incredibly outdated and it’s purposefully long for older grades, taking up an educator’s entire school year & curriculum. Here’s the entire list: tea.texas.gov/academics/in...

🚨Call to Action, Texans we need your voices! 🚨TEA & The SBOE want to mandate what all TX school children MUST read, and the book list is out of touch with TX students & families. It was clearly created to stifle certain ideas & voices & funnel students toward a narrow tightly controlled worldview.

Timely considering the Conroe ISD (TX) school board will consider a formal challenge to Brad Meltzer’s “I am Billie Jean King” Tuesday night.

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