‘Freedom to Read Act' filed in TN legislature would overturn ‘Age Appropriate Materials Act' of 2022
NASHVILLE, Tenn (WKRN) — A bill filed by a Knoxville Democrat aims to return books to classroom libraries and to repeal a newer state law affecting them.
Knoxville's Rep. Sam McKenzie (D) has filed HB 1051, also known as the 'Freedom to Read Act,' which would repeal the state's Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 while still ensuring books available in school libraries are appropriate for students.
Specifically, the bill requires materials in a library collection or school classroom to be 'suitable for the age and maturity levels' of the students at the school; prohibits materials from being excluded because of the origin, background, or view of the creator or because of 'partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval' of it; and requires each local school board and charter school to adopt a policy outlining how to review items in library collections.
The review procedure must be 'uniform' and allow the district to 'receive and review feedback' from a student, a parent or guardian, or a school employee.
The bill would also remove the state's Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission's authority to issue guidance on schools reviewing library materials, assist districts in evaluating the materials for 'appropriateness' or responding to feedback, complaints or challenges to materials in collections, establishing a timeline for appeals of decisions made by school districts, and making its own determination of any materials in school libraries if the district chooses not to review a title.
Since it was enacted in 2022, the Tennessee Age Appropriate Materials Act has been used to catalog all available titles in school libraries to determine whether or not they are appropriate for students.
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Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have called the bill an act of censorship.
'This misguided and overly broad ban on certain materials could result in the censoring of education materials on biology, history, literature, and health,' the ACLU of Tennessee said in an informational flyer on a 2024 amendment to the Act.
That amendment to the Act revised the definition of a book deemed unsuitable for children in K-12 schools to include anything that 'in whole or in part contains nudity, or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse.'
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Several school districts have used the law to ban more than 1,100 books across the state since the law was enacted, according to the Tennessee Association of School Librarians. Wilson County Schools banned more than 400 books in October of 2024, including a Dr. Seuss book titled 'Wacky Wednesday.' Rutherford County Schools declared several titles 'sexually explicit' in September in a bid to remove them from the school libraries.
If passed, the law would take effect July 1. The bill was set to be discussed in the House K-12 Subcommittee, but was cut for time. The next meeting of the subcommittee is Wednesday, March 26, at 1:30 p.m.
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