McKinney Mayor George Fuller: Book banning controversy makes him ‘ashamed’ of Republican Party

McKinney Mayor George Fuller says he is “ashamed” of the Republican Party in light of the nationwide controversy over efforts to remove books from school libraries and classrooms. “I am ashamed of the political party that I affiliate with,” Fuller told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday, referring to comments he made in a community Facebook group last week following a recent McKinney ISD school board meeting. McKinney became involved in the broader Republican-led effort to review books in Texas schools in February, when parents Paul and Rachel Elliott challenged the district to remove from campuses 282 books they deemed inappropriate. The parents told Channel 8 (WFAA-TV) that “the majority of books that they have an issue with are sexually explicit.”

McKinney ISD spokesman Cody Cunningham said the Elliotts “did not complete the process to challenge the books and have not pursued any additional book challenges.” The district, he said, is “responsible for over 500,000 books stored in both physical and online circulations.” “Over the past decade, only five books have been challenged in McKinney ISD, and currently the district has no requests for reconsideration,” Cunningham said. “Despite the fact that school library books are being used to advance political agendas, our librarians take great measures to ensure that library resources are safe and appropriate for students.” On Monday, the Texas Education Agency recommended that school districts retool policies for acquiring, reviewing and banning books. Gov. Greg Abbott had called on the agency last fall to develop standards to prevent the presence of “pornography and other obscene content” in schools after state Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) asked Texas superintendents to disclose whether their districts had any of the 800-plus books about race, gender and sexuality on his list. Fuller said Wednesday that the GOP is using the issue as a “battle cry, a political tactic, a partisan tactic,” that comes at the expense of children and teachers. He likened the effort to school controversies surrounding critical race theory, an academic framework that probes the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism.