Waxahachie ISD launches School Library Advisory Council to review book orders under Senate Bill 13

Waxahachie ISD convened an initial School Library Advisory Council (SLAC) meeting to set procedures for reviewing thousands of proposed book purchases and for handling future challenges under Senate Bill 13. Assistant Superintendent Lisa Moth, who led the meeting, said the district is following the most recent guidance available from the Texas Education Agency while final statewide guidance continues to arrive.

The committee’s chief duties, Moth said, are to review campus book orders submitted by librarians and to consider any books formally challenged by parents. "This was established through Senate Bill 13," Moth said, adding that the district is still building some processes: "We're still kind of building this plane as we're flying." She said Waxahachie ISD proactively formed the SLAC rather than waiting for a petition trigger in order to allow the district to manage reviews on its own timetable.

Why it matters: Senate Bill 13 requires school districts to provide a public review period for book orders and to offer a mechanism for challenges; the SLAC is Waxahachie ISD’s local advisory body to help the school board weigh those recommendations before formal board approval.

How the review will work: Moth said campus librarians submitted their consolidated order list to district staff on Oct. 10. The district will post that list on the district website for a 30-day public review period beginning the day after the meeting. Committee members will be asked to review titles and flag concerns; Moth said the SLAC will reconvene on Nov. 12 to consider flags and make recommendations, and the school board is scheduled to consider the list at its Dec. 9 meeting so librarians can place orders after board action.

Moth clarified membership and voting: per the statute and the district’s approach, voting members must be parents, grandparents or currently enrolled students; district employees who attend (including campus librarians) are nonvoting, advisory participants. "We have voting members, which are nonemployees," she said, and district librarians will support the committee by providing information about titles under review.

Tools and procedures discussed: Librarians showed committee members how vendor lists appear in a shared Google Doc, and staff explained that commercially supplied vendor records (for example, Follett and other large distributors) often include metadata such as age ranges, genre tags and reviewer notes. District staff said vendor catalogs can be filtered so items missing reviews or not meeting local criteria can be excluded from searches. A committee member suggested using AI tools (for example, Claude or ChatGPT) to help pre-screen and narrow large lists; staff encouraged experimentation while noting paid versions can be required for large-batch processing.

Procurement and selection context: District staff explained that Waxahachie ISD purchases through competitively procured vendors that serve Texas public schools, and that campuses commonly select titles through those distributors. Staff said purchases follow government procurement rules and that vendor catalogs are intended to align with Texas public-school needs.

Handling challenges and past practice: Moth described the SLAC as an advisory body that reflects community values and said the district previously conducted a large collection review: "When we did the big review … I had a box in my office of about eight book titles that we removed from the shelves," she said. She and other speakers identified common triggers for challenges as sexually explicit passages and depictions of drug use. Moth also said the district uses explicit labeling and parent-permission systems for adult/young-adult titles in middle and high school, so higher‑rated books are clearly identified and restricted from checkout without parental approval.

Community outreach and transparency: Staff said they plan to post the full order list on the district website and promote the public-review window so community members may flag titles for committee review. Moth said any community flags received during the 30-day posting will be sent to the SLAC for investigation and that staff will circulate flagged titles and additional research to SLAC members before the Nov. 12 meeting.

Next steps: The SLAC will have at least two meetings this school year; committee members are to review the posted order list between now and Nov. 12, flag titles they believe require further review, and notify district staff of those flags. District staff will compile flagged titles and any community comments, provide additional reviews or publisher information as needed, and present recommendations to the school board on Dec. 9 for final action. The district emphasized the SLAC’s role is advisory to the board, not decisive: final approvals rest with the board.

Endnote: Committee members asked for and were offered assistance with accessing vendor records and with optional printed extracts of the order list. Staff said they will circulate calendar invites for Nov. 12 and will notify the full SLAC and the public of any community flags received during the 30-day posting period.