6 February 26 - March 4, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents DPL Director Manya Shorr, who previ- ously led Fort Worth’s library system and oversaw the shuttering of its central library, said closures are necessary to avoid more system-wide cuts. The city closed one branch, Skillman Southwestern, in 2025 due to budget constraints. “If we do not move to a regional model and close four libraries, I will have to reduce hours and days for every library in this city, which is what we have done eight times over the last 15 years in response to budget pres- sures,” Shorr told council members. The committee ultimately chose not to approve the plan to close the Renner Frank- ford, Skyline, Oak Lawn and Arcadia Park li- brary branches. They also asked DPL staff to consider their feedback and engage with the community before presenting an updated scheme to the committee in March. What do Dallasites Want? Nicole Paquette, board chair of the Friends group, said paper copies of the survey will be available at branch libraries across the city, along with desktop and mobile online formats. “What we’re really hoping to do is to be able to articulate what people care about in terms of the Dallas Public Library,” Paquette said. “So you’ll see there’s questions related to hours of operation. What are the priority services that people are using? There are some questions related to the regional model and willingness to drive to locations.” The proposed closures come as the de- partment is being asked to identify $2.6 mil- lion in budget cuts ahead of the city’s 2026-27 fiscal year. Operational funding has remained largely unchanged from pre-2008 levels, even as new libraries have opened with bond money. Officials have suggested the branches would shut down toward the end of the fiscal year. Closing the branches, staff said at the committee meeting, will allow flagship loca- tions to open every day of the week and offer extended evening hours. “[The potential cut] is really, really dis- heartening and concerning to the Friends of the Dallas Public Library,” Paquette said. “We love the idea of libraries being open longer because there are a number of loca- tions that are not open in the evenings or available to people in hours that they might be wanting them. But we do not support li- brary closures.” One of the last questions on the survey asks which alternative locations, such as shopping centers or schools, residents would prefer to receive services at, as op- posed to comparatively more expensive standalone branch libraries. Shorr ex- pressed interest in moving toward more re- tail-forward services at the January committee meeting. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis pointed to the Book- marks location in NorthPark Center as a po- tential precedent. “The days of brick-and-mortar, stand- alone, single-destination libraries feel some- what outdated,” Willis said at the meeting. “I love the idea of taking the success of Bookmarks in NorthPark and expanding it across the city and into some of the areas where these locations are listed, replacing them with a model that is less expensive but still brings libraries and all of their rich pro- gramming directly to people who may not be using them as frequently. That is really appealing to me.” Survey results will be presented along with an updated plan at the next committee meeting, which is scheduled for March 23. Paquette said the group has already received over 2,500 responses. “The libraries have sort of been depri- oritized and underfunded as part of the city budget for a long time,” Paquette said. “We hope that this survey proves that li- braries have maybe been undervalued in terms of their role and impact, and so that this could shed light on that role and im- pact, and show how loved and appreciated they are.” ▼ SCHOOLS & RELIGION PRAYING FOR GOOD GRADES REPUBLICANS WANT PRAYER IN SCHOOLS. DALLAS DISTRICTS ARE SAYING NO. BY EMMA RUBY T exas Republicans haven’t exactly been subtle about their recent push for more Jesus during the school day. There are the mandated Ten Command- ments posters in every classroom, the cur- riculum that mentions Christ 383% more than it used to, and the bill that requires ev- ery school district to vote on whether to re- serve class time for prayer or religious study. Until that last law, school districts haven’t had much say in all of this. Senate Bill 11, though, puts prayer time in the hands of districts. The state law requires school boards to vote by March 1 on whether they wish to adopt the prayer time policy, and so far in North Texas, districts seem hesitant to say yes. “We’re really heartened to be seeing [dis- tricts turn down SB 11] across Texas. I don’t think that that’s by happenstance,” Caro Achar, engagement coordinator for free speech and pluralism at the ACLU of Texas, told the Observer. “I think that we have seen, on the whole, a lot of school districts reject this policy, and that’s because community members have made clear that this is not what they want for Texas, and this is not what they want for their schools.” In North Texas, several districts have al- ready rejected SB 11. The Cleburne, Irving and Grand Prairie independent school dis- tricts rejected the optional prayer period during school board meetings earlier this week, passing resolutions that emphasize that the religious rights of students are al- ready well established. An additional policy change “would not expand these existing rights and is not necessary for their continued exercise,” a Grand Prairie ISD memo states. Dallas ISD plans to reject the resolution during the school board’s Feb. 26 meeting. A resolution uploaded to the meeting’s agenda documents suggests that district leaders believe the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amend- ment to the U.S. Constitution is sufficient to ensure students’ religious freedoms. More than a dozen districts in the Houston area have voted against adopting the prayer pe- riod, while one, Magnolia ISD, voted in favor of the new pol- icy. A handful of Austin-area school districts have also re- jected the proposal. Achar was unable to specu- late on why state legislators left this proposed prayer pe- riod to individual districts. Advocates push- ing for more prayer in schools were likely emboldened by a 2019 Supreme Court deci- sion that ruled a football coach could lead prayers after games. While SB 11 requires districts to vote by March 1, it isn’t clear whether the law imposes penalties for fail- ing to meet the deadline. According to Achar, SB 11 — which advo- cates say helps fight back against traditional educational systems that bar students from exercising their religious rights — is yet an- other example of the national push away from the separation of church and state. “I think the message that we’re seeing is a pretty clear trend of Christian nationalism in Texas public schools,” said Achar. “What makes our Constitution so great is the pro- tection that we have for free exercise and no establishment of one religion. Policies like this, laws like this that we’re seeing all over the state and at many different levels, fly in the face of that and really make us question if we are free to have our own faith here in the state of Texas.” Unfair Park from p5 Some changes are coming to local libraries. Adobe Stock Adobe Stock Religious freedom in Texas schools has been a major topic of discussion.
