Florida GOP looks to make it easier to challenge books on school shelves

Yahoo

05-04-2025

A Florida law that has pushed public schools to remove thousands of books, including literary classics, from their shelves could get even more restrictive soon, as Republican lawmakers move to close a 'loophole' they say still allows volumes depicting nudity or sexual conduct to remain on campuses.
New bills backed by GOP legislators would mean school districts could no longer consider a book's artistic, literary, political or scientific value when deciding whether to keep it. Instead, any book that 'describes sexual conduct' could face removal.
Already, critics argue the 2023 law is unconstitutional — a pending federal lawsuit says it violates the First Amendment — and overly broad and vague. Some worried educators have removed children's picture books, such as 'No David!' by David Shannon, for showing cartoonish bare bottoms out of fear they depict the prohibited 'sexual conduct.'
Classics, such as Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' and Ernest Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' also have been pulled. But the current law gives districts some room to evaluate books for their merits, even if they are challenged as inappropriate.
Orange County Public Schools, for example, reviewed Trevor Noah's book 'Born a Crime' after someone filed a complaint, charging it was too sexually explicit. A district committee determined that the comedian and TV host's memoir about growing up under apartheid in South Africa was a worthwhile read for interested high school students and that it did not violate the law.
Senate staff members who analyzed its bill (SB 1692) suggested the new legislation could lead to further legal troubles, with the state facing additional 'challenges under the First Amendment.' But both House and Senate bills have gotten favorable committee votes by their GOP majorities.
'I thought we were done with the culture wars. I thought we were done with all of the excessive book banning, but here we are,' said Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, at a recent committee meeting, where he voted against the bill. 'I'm not sure how this helps anyone.'
Florida led the nation in school book bans last school year with 4,561 instances reported in its public schools, according to PEN America, a free-speech group. Florida's book bans accounted for about 45% of all school book bans reported nationwide, the group said.
But Republicans insist that Florida doesn't ban books, instead pulling inappropriate and 'pornographic' books from schools. Now, they argue the law needs to be strengthened.
Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville, said he didn't think his fellow committee members had seen the questionable books for themselves.
'They shouldn't be anywhere near our children. This bill fixes that,' he said as a committee approved the House bill (HB 139).
Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, agreed.
'If I took a picture with my phone of what is in some of these books, and I transmitted it via text to a fourth grader sitting across the hall from the library in Mrs. McGillicuddy math class, I would go to federal prison,' he said.
Both bills would alter the state's criminal code that defines material 'harmful to minors,' so that schools could not use the argument that a book that describes 'sexual conduct' should remain because it has 'serious' artistic, literary, political or scientific merit — part of a standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 known as the Miller Test.
Rep. Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, sponsor of the House bill, said the changes makes sense. He said some school districts were using 'the Miller Test as the loophole,' and his bill would mean part of it would no longer applied to public schools.
Former President Jimmy Carter's 1976 interview with Playboy magazine might be of political value, Bankson said, but public schools shouldn't have a copy of the magazine on their shelves.
But there have been no reports of Playboy magazines in Florida public schools. Instead, award-winning books such as John Steinbeck's 'East of Eden' and Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' as well as many popular novels have been taken off library shelves in some Florida school districts.
Judy Blume, an award-winning author, spoke against the bills at a virtual press conference Friday, saying book bans hurt students. Adults are afraid, she added, that books will prompt too many questions or make children change.
'Books don't make kids become anybody else. Books make kids think,' Blume said.
Blume's 1975 novel 'Forever,' about teenage romance and sexuality, has been challenged by a parent in Orange who objected to a copy found at Timber Creek High School, district documents show. The parent said the book was 'pornographic' and violated the 2023 law. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, the documents say.
Aaron Terr, the director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said removing educators' ability to judge the artistic, literary, political and scientific value of books would violate the First Amendment.
'Courts have consistently recognized the 'serious value' prong as essential to distinguishing constitutionally protected material from obscenity, including in the context of minors,' Terr wrote in a memo to Florida lawmakers, urging them to vote down the bills.
The group of authors, parents and book publishers that sued Florida in federal court last year argued the state's existing law — which required the removal of 'materials alleged to contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct' — already violates the First Amendment and fails to conform the Supreme Court's ruling.
The lawsuit also says the 2023 law is so broad that some schools have removed books that did nothing more than mention the phrase 'made love' and that it had effectively stripped teachers and school librarians of their ability to conduct an 'holistic evaluation' of books.
The state disagreed and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but a federal judge in Orlando rejected the state's motion in February so the lawsuit is proceeding.
The new legislation, if adopted, would leave no doubt that the value of book could not be considered if it contained 'sexual conduct.'
Stephana Ferrell, an Orange County mother and founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said the new bills are 'incredibly frustrating' and widen the goal posts to make it easier to remove more books from public school libraries.
A single resident bothered by a book could get it removed from a school, said Ferrell, whose group fights book bans.
Now, as OCPS did with 'Born a Crime,' some districts have relied on the Supreme Court's test in deciding to keep books that faced challenges, arguing they have 'serious' value despite some sexual content, Ferrell added.
In January, the Hillsborough County school district, for example, decided to keep in a school library the book 'Identical' by Ellen Hopkins. Several other districts had removed or placed age restrictions on the book, which contains depictions of a daughter being sexually abused by her father.
During a House committee meeting, Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, called the bill 'unconstitutional' and said it would increase book bans.
'This bill screams 'mistrust of educators in Florida public school system',' Bracy Davis said.