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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 47 • No. 48 • $1.00
Local district draws backlash for book reviews By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend ISD has removed one book from its library shelves and several others have come under review because of complaints about them in individual classrooms – moves some parents are criticizing as censorship.
News that the district has removed a title from its shelves comes amid a rising national debate about the content of some books in school libraries. “I don’t believe in banning any books,” said Sumita Chowdhury Gosh, a parent with two children in Fort Bend ISD schools. “Especially when we have the internet freely available, which has a lot more
toxic content.” District administrators, in conversation last week with the Fort Bend Star, explained that only one book had been fully removed, and that the district’s process for hearing complaints had existed for years. A Houston Chronicle investigation was the first to unveil a list of books either under review or removed at Fort Bend ISD. As part
of the investigation, the newspaper sought records from districts across Texas, determining through public information requests sent to almost 600 school districts that they performed more than 2,000 book reviews on 880 titles, of which 1,740 were from the 2021-2022 school year, ac-
SEE BOOK PAGE 7A
Rising demand
WINNERS REVEALED ON PG. 1B
FBISD trustees call for tax rate election By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Voters this November will decide whether or not Fort Bend ISD can use extra tax revenues to reduce a $47 million budget shortfall, while also working to increase staff salaries along with a host of other benefits. The district’s board of trustees late Monday evening gave final approval to placing a voter approval tax rate election, or VATRE, on the November ballot. If approved, the district’s maintenance and operations tax rate would actually remain the same as it was last year, at $1.21 per $100,000 of valuation, according to the district. The reason voters need to approve maintaining the tax rate is because, under state law, the district must seek voter approval to institute any tax rate that would increase revenues by more than 2.5 percent of the previous year’s, according to the state. Because of rising property values across Fort Bend County, maintaining that rate would give the district about $47 million in additional funding, according to a news release. District leaders plan to use that money to reduce a $47 million deficit, provide funding for new safety measured, increase teachers’ starting salaries up to $60,000 and provide supplemental pay to long-serving employees, according to the district.
SEE TAX PAGE 7A
Volunteers Nick Stulak, left, and Chris Spiers sort through donated food at Fort Bend County's Catholic Charities in Richmond on Monday morning. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
Food insecurity on rise in county amid decrease in donations By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Rising prices for gas and food have combined to create more food insecurity in Fort Bend County, while also reducing businesses’ and residents’ ability to provide donations, according to experts with local charitable organizations. While demand for aid isn’t as high as it was during the height of the pandemic in March 2020, it’s still higher than it ever was before, according to Shayne Baker, a food pantry coordinator
cause it is systemic,” said David Sincere, a pastor at Fort Bend Transformation Church who has aided those dealing with food insecurity. “With inflation, rental rates are going up along with gas prices and wage stagnation. People are having to choose, how much food are they going to buy versus are they going to be able to afford rent?” Food prices have increased about 10.4 percent from a year ago, which is good for the largest 12-month increase since 1981, according to a New York Times article.
Total, about 25 mil- food banks.” lion adults in the country Catholic Charities in Fort haven’t had enough to eat Bend County has seen its in the previous seven days, role addressing local food according to the article. insecurity change dramatiUnlike in the early cally in the years since the months of the pandemic, pandemic began. however, increased prices Before March 2020, the are affecting potential organization served about donors along with those 300 families each week, seeking help, Baker ex- most of them coming from plained. the area near the Mamie “Food banks acquire George Community Center, food in many ways,” she 1111 Collins Rd., Richmond, said. “One of those is part- where the charity is based, nerships with groceries. Baker said. But as inflation increases, As the pandemic began, people are buying less and so groceries purchase less. That all trickles down to SEE INSECURITY PAGE 7A
County planning museum tour for 200th anniversary By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Malone
at Catholic Charities in Fort Bend County. “We’re currently seeing about 1,000 to 1,400 families per week,” she said, comparing it to the 300 families the pantry served before the pandemic. Experts on food insecurity in Fort Bend County say the rising cost of prices in several different areas, combined with relatively stagnant wages have made life difficult for county residents who might not have had a problem in the years before the pandemic. “It’s the confluence of all these different issues, be-
Fort Bend County is planning a tour of historical sites as part of celebrating the county namesake’s 200th anniversary in the coming weeks. On Sept. 10, the Fort Bend County Historical Commission will host a “Museum Crawl and History Fair” on Saturday,
September 10 from 10:00 am until 2:30 pm. at Mirabeau B. Lamar Homestead Park on Eugene Heimann Circle in Richmond, across from the Justice Center. "Come celebrate the two hundred years of progress, economic and cultural development, and prosperity which Fort Bend County continues to enjoy," the commission said in a news release. The celebration will
include free guided bus tours along routes visiting a number of Fort Bend County’s premier historical museums as well as several points of local historical interest consistent with each tour’s theme. The bus tours will include stops at the Dew House, Freedom Tree, Stafford’s Point Historical Marker, Sugar Land Heritage Museum, Bullhead Convict Labor Camp Cemetery, Fort Bend Museum
and more according to the news release. In 1822 a small group of colonists, the release said the first of Stephen F. Austin’s “Old Three Hundred”, made their way up the Brazos River to a large bend in the river near present day Richmond. The colonists constructed a two-room log cabin to store their supplies that became known as “Fort Bend,” according to the release.
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