Analysis: Some Texas lawmakers are worried about the wrong reading problem

Texas has a problem that’s bigger than the stories in the books at the school library.

If you were put on the spot and asked what needs to be done in public education in Texas, and if you were a candidate in the upcoming GOP primaries, boxing up some of the books available in schools might be the first thing on your lips. Maybe you’d also fret over subversive ideas in social studies and history texts.

But dictating what students are allowed to read depends on their ability to read in the first place. Falling test scores and learning lost to the pandemic might not light up the crowds at political rallies, but it’s a bigger issue than books that offend legislators’ tender sensibilities.