Fort Worth ISD managers scrap the library advisory council after its own chair asks them to

Fort Worth ISD has eliminated the volunteer council that reviewed every list of books its librarians wanted to buy, after the council's chair told the district the panel was slowing purchases without adding value.

The district's state-appointed board of managers voted 7-0 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to do away with its school library advisory council, the Fort Worth Report reported Thursday. Managers Jay Stegall and Luis Galindo missed the vote.

The district's elected trustees set up the council in 2025, after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 13, which set rules for how school districts evaluate library materials and gave parents more access to information about the books on campus shelves. The law lets districts form such councils but does not require them.

Members were asked to go through lists of hundreds of titles each month to judge whether they met community standards. Layne Craig, who chairs the council and has two children in the district, told managers the work duplicated what librarians and district staff already do, according to the Report.

She also said the council had trouble getting enough members to show up, which at times kept proposed purchase lists from reaching the board.

"I believe that SLAC is a hindrance to our district's librarians that does not provide a meaningful service to Fort Worth ISD parents and students," Craig told managers, the Report said.

Zach Leonard, another council member and vice president of the Fort Worth ISD Council of PTAs, supported dropping the panel. He told the Report that librarians already have the training to vet books and that a second round of volunteer review "creates delay without adding much protection."

Leonard also leads Families Organized & Responding to Takeover, a group formed after the state takeover of the district.

What stays in place

The change removes one step but keeps the rest of the review process, according to the Report:

• Librarians and other trained staff will still screen proposed materials against district standards and state law, then recommend purchases directly to the board.
• The board keeps the final vote on whether to buy.
• The district must still post proposed purchase lists at least 30 days before a board vote so parents and residents can look them over.
• Anyone can still challenge a book already in a school library. Those challenges go to a committee made up of a librarian plus at least one teacher who knows the material.

The Report's account did not describe anyone speaking against the change before the vote.

Sources

fortworthreport.org