Voters fire book banners in Texas school board elections

Afshi Charania and Angie Wierzbicki won trustee positions in the Fort Bend Independent School District on May 3, 2025. Both pledged to work against book banning policies promoted by the trustees. Formerly, the book banners held a 5-2 majority on the board, but the election of Charanis and Wierzbicki means that the board is now tilted 4-3 in favor of pro-student and pro-educator trustees. Unlike some elections which require 50% or more to avoid a runoff, the results shown are final.

Texas suburban voters removed hard-line book banners from a number of suburban Houston school boards. See article. 

In Fort Bend County Independent School District (FBISD), Afshi Charania and Angie Wierzbicki won election as trustees. Charania defeated incumbent Rick Garcia who supported what district librarians described as the “most restrictive” book policy. Wierzbicki defeated Cheryl Buford, who was hand-picked by outgoing board member David Hamilton who championed book banning. (I made a very modest effort to help by distributing Afshi and Angie door hangers to about 120 homes.) 

In Katy ISD, board president and book-banner Victor Perez lost to former principal James Cross. In Clear Creek ISD, Rebecca Lilley defeated incumbent book banner Scott Bowen. In Humble ISD, Brittnai Brown won election over Ken Kirchhofer and Tracy Shannon. Shannon, who declared herself to be in favor of banning 1,000 books, was backed by the Republican Party. Fort Bend, Katy, Clear Creek, and Humble ISD are all in the Houston area.