Texas governor adopts lawmaker’s probe of books in schools

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has joined a conservative Republican lawmaker’s campaign to investigate books that cover race, gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. State Rep. Matt Krause of Fort Worth, who chairs the House General Investigating Committee, has written to the state education agency and local school officials to find which of a list of more than 800 books the schools possess, where they are kept and how they were paid for. Abbott on Monday warned the Texas Association of School Boards that parents are worried that schools expose students to unspecified “pornography or other inappropriate content.” Many of the books on the list were written by women, people of color and LGBTQ writers and cover topics including teen pregnancy and abortion.