A Dallas Morning News poll found a substantial number of Lone Star state residents don't believe public school employees are able to properly judge materials students can access at school.
As book restrictions and library reviews continue to engulf local school boards and state politics, Texas residents are less confident in the ability of public officials and school librarians to moderate potentially controversial materials available in public school classrooms. are feeling.
A new poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News in conjunction with the University of Texas at Tyler asked 1,188 registered voters between February 8-15 what books they believed are viable for public school libraries, They must be trusted to evaluate it. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported having "not much" or "distrust" in the ability of local librarians and school officials to properly evaluate books. Fifteen percent said they had a "great deal" of trust for such officers and 30 percent reported a "reasonable amount" of trust.
While the poll recorded an overwhelming amount of trust among Texans in school administrators and librarians, it also found less trust for elected public officials to work with content moderation in schools. Sixty-five percent of Texans said there was "not much" or "distrust" in the ability of elected state leaders to adequately screen potentially harmful materials from public school classrooms and libraries.
These figures come against a backdrop of high-ranking state officials fighting state-sanctioned book reviews, controversial local school board meetings, and the ghost of race theory critical of Texas schools and universities. Famous titles like "The Handmaid's Tale," "V for Vendetta" and "Gender Queer" have earned the ire of conservative politicians and found their way into lists of problematic books shared by parents.
A similar list was assembled in 2021 by Republican state Representative Matt Cross, who began distributing a document outlining 850 books he believed "may make students feel uncomfortable." The 16-page spreadsheet features several books with touching topics on race, racism, LBTQ identity, and sex education. An analysis of Cross's list found it included sex education resources dating back to 1971.