The New Braunfels ISD Board of Trustees voted to temporarily suspend library services for secondary schools during a regular meeting on Monday, October 13th. This decision came after a lengthy executive session in which trustees discussed how Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) impacts NBISD.

The Board unanimously voted to “direct the superintendent to temporarily suspend student access to all secondary libraries and all secondary library materials effective immediately while the district ensures compliance with Senate Bill 13. (I) further move that the Board create a board Senate Bill 13 advisory committee to be available to assist the superintendent as needed.”

The NBISD Board of Trustees is firmly committed to upholding the law as outlined in SB 13, which requires that school library materials remain free of content that is deemed to be “harmful material,” “indecent content” or “profane content.” The definition of these can be found online in Senate Bill 13.

To ensure that all library materials in NBISD schools comply with the standards of SB 13, the Board has directed a comprehensive review of the district’s collection, which includes more than 195,000 books and resources. Secondary schools have a collection of more than 50,000 titles. Books that are found to violate SB 13 will be removed from the library’s collection. Secondary library services will remain suspended during this review but elementary school libraries services will not be suspended. NBISD administration is allocating resources to expedite the review process and ensure secondary libraries are accessible to students again as quickly as possible.

SB 13, which was passed during the 89th Legislative Session, introduced new legal requirements for districts across the state. Under this legislation, local boards of trustees must now approve any library book purchases or donations. This represents a significant shift in responsibility, as these decisions were previously managed entirely by the district staff.

The Board is committed to ensuring and upholding full compliance with Senate Bill 13 and the highest standards of responsibility, transparency, and student safety.