Statement on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's "War on Books"

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made school library censorship part of his 2026 reelection-year political agenda this week. He recently declared, “We’re coming for the books,” and announced his intention to pursue legislation that will punish Texas public schools if he believes that they have the wrong books in their school libraries. He said that even a single book he dislikes could cost a school or district an entire letter grade on the state accountability system. 

EveryLibrary believes we should take him at his word and prepare seriously for the next legislature in January.

At his press conference, the Lt. Governor repeatedly described school library books as “dirty,” “filthy,” and “pornographic.” Many of the titles he talked about originated from a list assembled by a special interest group called Recover America. They are on a crusade to identify and remove books they think are harmful, explicit, and vulgar from public schools. The definition that Recover America uses for what they think is a bad book is rather suspect, though. It doesn’t come from applying existing law and Supreme Court precedents to the content. It comes instead from collection of ratings and challenge databases, restrictions put in place for prisons and jails, and even seems OK with AI ratings. 

Recover America, who the Lt. Governor has featured on his internet talk show, currently lists 2,193 titles to target for removal at elementary, middle, and high schools. They also describe their own broader mission as mobilizing pastors and congregations to bring “Biblical solutions” into civic life. They say that the banned book list is part of their vision for “a nation restored by God’s word”. 

Under the First Amendment, Recover America is entitled to organize around its religious, political, or cultural beliefs. But putting books they do not like onto spreadsheet does not make that book legally obscene. If Lt. Gov. Patrick and Recover America genuinely believes books violate Texas or federal obscenity or harmful laws, Texas has an Attorney General, prosecutors, courts, and legal standards for determining that question.

Texans should note that the Lt. Governor is threatening to tie school accountability scores to school library books is simply an election year tactic. School Accountability standards of are supposed to tell parents and communities something meaningful about educational performance. A school does not suddenly become worse at teaching mathematics, reading, science, or history because a politician objects to a title in its library. Using the accountability system this way would turn Texas school performance scores into an instrument of political compliance.

Across the Unites States, books about religion, race, LGBTQ+ people, gender, sexuality, difficult histories, and the experiences of people outside the majority cultural or religious group are disproportionately under attack by groups like Recover America and politicians like Lt. Gov. Patrick. Labeling books as “dirty,” “filthy,” and “vulgar” make it easier to transform people, identities, families, or ideas represented in a book into a demand that the book – and therefore the people they represent - disappear.

Texas law provides parents with substantial mechanisms to exercise their authority. But parental rights are not the same thing as allowing one politician, one advocacy group, or one ideological constituency to decide what every other family’s children may read. Local control cannot mean “local control, but only when the Lt. Governor approves the result”. 

After several consecutive legislative sessions where bills to institute censorship, book ratings, and the prosecution of librarians and educators have advanced, there is a broader question for Texans that needs to be asked plainly: with enormous decisions ahead in the next legislative biennium about the state budget, public education, taxation, school finance, local government, economic development, infrastructure, and the future of the state, why should another campaign against school library books command this much political attention?

We know he and other political actors will try again to politicize reading and coerce public education to comply. We believe him when he says, “We’re coming for the books.” Here at EveryLibrary, we intend to make sure that people who believe in the right to read are ready to fight for it. That is why we must prepare now. 

Please consider making a donation today to the EveryLibrary Rapid Response Fund. With the help of our donors and across a network of active, engaged Texans, there is still time to educate communities, organize parents and school library supporters, prepare local leaders, and ensure that lawmakers understand the consequences of turning education funding and accountability into censorship tools.