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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Where does the censorship stop?
() If you remember visiting the local library as a child, you likely went with your mom or dad, a teacher or with nothing more than your bike and a backpack. Chances are state lawmakers or religious zealots did not escort you inside, and you didn't have to wonder whose stories were hidden behind locked doors or inside a vault because nothing was locked up. By 'whose stories,' I refer to those books that reflect the lives of readers who may not often be depicted in literature, much less in a positive manner. So, a Black child who can't read about racial prejudice in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings might blame himself for his own race-based struggles in a white-dominated society. The child who was molested might blame himself until he reads another book often targeted by censors, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Or teenagers questioning their own sexual identity might fear they're the only ones with such a quandary until they read Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer. Kobabe's book was one of numerous books targeted by former state senator Jason Rapert of Conway during his tumultuous time on the Arkansas State Library Board. Recently, the Arkansas Legislature chose to abolish that board, which wasn't as censorship-prone as many lawmakers apparently wanted, and to have the governor appoint a new panel. As if that weren't bad enough, the legislature later approved a bill requiring librarians in schools with kindergarten through fifth-grade students to 'store non-age-appropriate sexual content … in a locked compartment within a designated area.' The bill defines 'non-age-appropriate sexual content' as 'any materials that include explicit instruction, promotion, or advocacy of sexual ideology, behaviors, or orientations that are not developmentally appropriate for kindergarten through grade five … students.' The law does not specify who decides what is age-appropriate. Arkansas' escalating campaign of censorship represents yet another vague, punitive, and politically motivated attempt to chill free expression and intimidate public servants. – Megan Bailey, communications director, ACLU of Arkansas, referring to Act 917 of 2025 This escalation in the war against libraries and public school teachers came after a federal judge in December struck down challenged provisions of Act 372 of 2023 which sought to criminalize librarians who provided minors with access to inappropriate books. Part of Act 372 that went unchallenged in court and that became law 'already requires school libraries to place books deemed to be inappropriate in an area inaccessible to students under 18,' said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. So, why was the lock-'em-up measure, Act 917 of 2025, even needed? Perhaps, for show, for politicians to look tough when it comes to already-denigrated librarians and teachers. I asked Megan Bailey, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, about the possibility of the ACLU's suing over Act 917. 'We are currently reviewing all options and are continuing to monitor how this and related laws are enforced,' Bailey replied. Referring to 'Arkansas' escalating campaign of censorship,' Bailey said Act 917 'represents yet another vague, punitive, and politically motivated attempt to chill free expression and intimidate public servants.' 'While it may appear narrower than Act 372 on its face, the lack of clarity around what constitutes 'developmentally appropriate' content — and the threat of civil lawsuits against libraries and librarians — creates a chilling effect that will likely lead to over-removal of lawful, constitutionally protected materials out of fear of retribution,' Bailey said in an email. Caldwell-Stone said in an email that, nationally, Act 917 'is unique in that it requires books that are deemed to include 'advocacy of sexual ideology, behaviors, or orientations' not developmentally appropriate for K-5 students to be kept under lock and key, requires parental permission to access such books, and includes provisions for punishing schools and educators who do not comply.' 'In targeting books that address or include themes about gender and sexual orientation, the law may be engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment. Additionally, the parental permission requirement could also be found unconstitutional and a violation of students' rights to access books in the school library,' Caldwell-Stone said. She noted that in 2003, a federal court ruled against the Cedarville, Arkansas, School Board when the court 'set aside a school board's requirement that students submit a written parental permission slip to access the Harry Potter series.' 'It held having to obtain parental permission to check out the books from the school library constituted a restriction on access that violated the students' First Amendment rights, given that the books had been restricted because school board members 'dislike[d] the ideas contained in those books,'' Caldwell-Stone said. 'Laws that impose ambiguous standards and threaten punishment for subjective violations raise serious First Amendment concerns. Librarians should not have to face punishment for failing to implement vague, content-based restrictions,' she added. Despite court rulings and astute cautions, books and intellectual freedom have long been targets of the morality police, though I can't remember a time when the far right targeted libraries in Arkansas as much as it has recently. Censorship was, of course, a hallmark of the late 1940s-50s McCarthy era, and I trust — no, I only hope — that few politicians today yearn to be identified with an era that blacklisted artists and censored books. (Case in point: Ray Bradbury's dystopian 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, in which firefighters burn down any houses that contain outlawed books, was published 'for many years' only in a censored version, according to PEN America, a free-expression advocacy nonprofit.) Lest you think the ACLU, the ALA and I are overreacting, note that in 1965 the novel Black Beauty was banned in South Africa during that country's apartheid era because of the word 'Black' in the title, according to PEN America. In the United States, the first book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series became the most often challenged book in libraries from 2000-2009, according to the American Library Association. And the U.S. Naval Academy, responding to President Donald Trump's anti-diversity orders, removed nearly 400 volumes from its library this year. Where does the censorship stop? Should the Bible be banned because it features stories of polygamy, incest and horrific death? I say no. But if the censors are consistent, they will say yes.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Some Arkansas libraries still waiting new state funding rules now a year overdue
Allie Gosselink (left), director of the Calhoun County Library, advocates for public libraries before the Arkansas State Library Board at its quarterly meeting on Friday, February 14, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) The Arkansas State Library Board on Friday will disburse public funds to libraries for the last time in the 2025 fiscal year, and likely the last time before all seven board members will be replaced. As local library directors wait for their regular shares of state funding, some continue to await a long-delayed avenue for rural libraries to be eligible for more state funding. An amendment to the State Library's fiscal year 2024 appropriation bill introduced by Sen. John Payton, R-Wilburn, required the Arkansas Department of Education to alter library funding eligibility standards to allow smaller libraries not supported with a local millage access to state aid. The original deadline for establishing those standards was July 1, 2024, the start of the current fiscal year. 'We want [libraries] to receive local support,' Payton told a Joint Budget subcommittee at the time. 'We don't want them dependent on the grants and aid that might come through the State Library system, but it's impossible for them to pass and maintain one mill if they're a city of less than 5,000.' Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 30 prohibits libraries in cities with fewer than 5,000 people from being supported by local property taxes. Payton said he presented the proposal to change the rules on behalf of his constituents in Ash Flat, which has a population of just over 1,100 and a library funded by the city government. Eligibility for state aid would allow the Ash Flat Library to apply for state and federal grants it currently cannot access, Terry Hill, chairman of the library's governing board, told the Advocate. Subsequent State Library appropriations, for fiscal 2025 and 2026, reiterated the need to broaden access to library funding, but the rule-making process stalled last year, meaning rural libraries still cannot access the funds, according to library directors and the education department. State Library Director Jennifer Chilcoat told the board in a Feb. 14, 2024, email that the rules had to be in place before the board met that August to start disbursing state funds for fiscal year 2025. If not, the State Library would be 'in violation of' either its standards for state aid to public libraries or the legal requirement to create the rules, Chilcoat said in the email. The State Library appropriation bills state that the new rules must 'allow a public library to adequately demonstrate a source of revenue in lieu of the requirement to maintain a one-mill county or city property tax,' which is currently a standard for libraries to receive state aid. Without formal rules, the current standard limits which libraries can receive state grants. A mill is equal to $1 dollar for every $1,000 in assessed value on real estate. Calhoun County is Arkansas' most rural county, and its library system would receive an $18,000 funding boost under broader state aid eligibility standards, director Allie Gosselink told the Advocate. The Hampton library would also be able to increase its hours of operation from 28 to 40 hours per week and would bolster its early literacy services and upgrade its technology, Gosselink said. She and John McGraw, regional director of the Faulkner-Van Buren Library System, were both on the advisory committee that drafted new rules required by the 2023 law. 'We talked about every piece of that and tried to decide what worked, what didn't work, what was detrimental, and we changed the rules based on what we thought would be fair,' Gosselink said. Assistant Attorney General Sarah DeBusk told the State Library Board in November that proposed rules must be approved by the education secretary and governor and a public comment period before final approval by the Arkansas Legislative Council. The Department of Education's legal division is responsible for ensuring the rules are in the proper format before they return to the state agency that drafted them. The State Library Board would be responsible for opening a 30-day public comment period on the rules after receiving the formal version from the education department, and Chilcoat urged the board in the February 2024 email to plan for a special meeting the following month. Education department attorneys were 'tentatively predicting that we should either hear back from or receive approval from' Sanders' office in the subsequent few weeks, Chilcoat wrote. 'There is a timeline that we are keenly aware of to get the changes in place before the start of the 2025 State Fiscal Year,' she said in her February 2024 email. 'For that reason, we cannot wait until the May board meeting to get these Rules in front of you and the public.' The State Library Board has not voted on the proposed rules but has a new deadline of this July 1 to act, according to emails obtained by the Advocate via the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. The still unofficial rules and possible actions the Library Board can take were the subject of late April emails between Chilcoat and ADE Chief of Staff Courtney Salas-Ford. Since the board doesn't have new rules to address Payton's 2023 appropriations amendment, Chilcoat wrote on April 25, 'we need to have a stopgap formula beginning in August in case the promulgation process is not complete at that time. 'If there aren't new State Aid Rules in place when the new board members begin their terms, these drafts will give them a template which they can use or dismiss, but it will give them a starting point from which to work if they so choose,' the email said. One of the last laws the General Assembly passed before adjourning this month was Act 903, which will dismiss the entire State Library Board and require Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to appoint seven new members in August. In an April 30 email, Chilcoat told Salas-Ford she has 'two versions of a one-time state aid formula for the current board to choose from and approve so that the new board doesn't have to deal with the first quarter payments at their first meeting. 'One formula simply removes the MLS (Master's of Library Science) credit from all recipients of it. The other is a simple across-the-board percentage decrease [in state aid to all libraries]. 'Both are included so that we can honor Senator Payton's amendment to include those libraries that don't or can't collect the millage previously required. Of course, the current board can also vote to pass the responsibility to the next board.' Gosselink and McGraw both told lawmakers in April that the inaction on the proposed rules was a reason the Legislature should not dissolve the State Library and its board and transfer their responsibilities and funds to the education department. A House committee rejected the proposed dissolution, one of several bills that generated hours of debate about library oversight and funding throughout the 2025 legislative session. The new rules for state aid to libraries are on Friday's Library Board agenda. Gosselink said she hoped Friday's board meeting would create 'a little bit of clarity' for her library's funding for the rest of the state's fiscal year. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas senator continues mission to eliminate State Library Board, cites unfulfilled bargain
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, presents Senate Bill 184 to the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Thursday, February 13, 2025 while Sen. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, looks on. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) A legislative proposal to dissolve the Arkansas State Library Board 'will remain on the table' after the board did not take action that bill sponsor Sen. Dan Sullivan requested, he told the Advocate Friday. The library board narrowly rejected two motions put forth by member Jason Rapert of Conway, Sullivan's former Senate colleague, during a special meeting Thursday. Later, the board passed a motion proposed by Lupe Peña de Martinez of Mabelvale, who said she 'trusted' that the Jonesboro Republican would respond by withdrawing Senate Bill 184 from consideration. As first written SB 184 would eliminate both the State Library Board and the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees Arkansas PBS, and transfer the boards' powers and authorities to the Arkansas Department of Education. Thursday's library board meeting came a week after Arkansas Educational Television Commission Chairman West Doss said a discussion he had with Sullivan 'saved the commission' from dissolution. Arkansas State Library Board approves proposal aimed at keeping it alive Sullivan has since said he is amending SB 184, which passed the Senate Feb. 17, to remove the Arkansas Educational Television Commission. An amendment hadn't been posted on the Legislature's bill monitoring website as of Friday evening. A House committee has yet to hear the bill. Library board member Peña de Martinez also spoke to Sullivan before last week's meeting. He told her he would 'pull' the bill if the board developed 'non-binding policies to protect children,' she said Thursday. The board voted 4-3 to pass the motion she introduced to create such policies. In an interview with the Advocate Friday, Sullivan said he told Peña de Martinez and other board members that his 'preference would be to see two things: that the library board have policies that protect children and that it disaffiliate itself from the American Library Association.' He was referring to the national nonprofit trade association that advocates for public libraries and helps them secure grant funding. It also accredits master's of library science degree programs. Peña de Martinez said Thursday that Sullivan's 'exact words' to her were ''Develop non-binding policies to protect children and I will pull Senate Bill 184'… at least two or three times.' On Friday, Peña de Martinez corrected herself and confirmed that Sullivan expressed both of his wishes in their conversation. She reiterated a concern she expressed at February's regularly scheduled board meeting: that she is not aware of any 'high-caliber' body that could replace the ALA in accrediting higher education programs for librarians in training. She also said she made Thursday's motion 'in good faith' and was 'disappointed' in Sullivan's response. 'I'm a lifelong educator,' she said. 'I want nothing more than to protect children, and I think I've been clear on that.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Rapert made both of the motions that the board rejected Thursday by the same 4-3 vote. One would have eliminated all references to the ALA from the board's documents; the other would have created an ad hoc committee of board members that would make recommendations to 'protect children from sexually explicit materials' in public libraries. The second motion would also have sought assistance from the Department of Education and the state attorney general to compile rules for the board to adopt in order to withhold state funds from libraries where 'sexually explicit' content is within children's reach. All three of Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' appointees to the library board — Rapert, Shari Bales of Hot Springs and Sydney McKenzie of Rogers — voted against Peña de Martinez's motion and voted for Rapert's motions. McKenzie is the newest member and the wife of Rep. Brit McKenzie, R-Rogers. Pam Meridith of Cherokee Village and Jo Ann Campbell of Fort Smith joined Peña de Martinez and board chairwoman Deborah Knox of Mountain Home in voting for the motion that passed while opposing the two from Rapert. 'I could simply not support Mr. Rapert's motions yesterday, even though that probably does spell the end of our board,' Knox said in an interview Friday. Knox also said she was not sure what the State Library Board could do to satisfy Sullivan besides its passage of Peña de Martinez's motion. Sullivan acknowledged Friday that 'non-binding policy' is 'all they can do.' Peña de Martinez's motion specified that the policies to be developed will honor 'the constitutional and legislative principles of intellectual freedom, including First Amendment protections.' It also emphasized that libraries are required to 'exercise due care in [the] selection, classification and access for materials.' Knox said the First Amendment language 'was a very important part of the motion' since Rapert's attempts to regulate where 'sexually explicit' books are located 'really interferes with the First Amendment right people have to go to the public library and choose the books of their choice.' She also said local libraries do 'very well' at protecting children from inappropriate content 'because I think they know how to classify their books and house them appropriately.' Meredith made a similar comment Thursday, but Rapert disputed this point and decried Peña de Martinez's motion as 'senseless.' 'You all would love to do something non-binding because it has no effect. It does nothing,' Rapert said. 'You have no intention of protecting Arkansas children.' Campbell mentioned that Rapert's motion to create a committee focused on governing libraries' management of explicit materials included the phrase 'non-binding guidance.' 'I'm sorry, this is a library board: can't we read?' Rapert replied. 'It is an agenda item. That's not a motion.' Knox said Friday she agreed with Peña de Martinez that the motion the board approved should have fulfilled Sullivan's wishes. Sullivan, however, told the Advocate the board made a 'conscious choice' that was 'just the opposite' of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission's actions. 'When the state says our policy is the safety and protection of children … that's what the library board should do,' the Jonesboro Republican said. If librarians already do well at protecting children, as one board member put it, 'how hard is it to develop guidelines to make sure you're doing what you say you're doing?' 'My goal is to eliminate the state library board,' he said. Rapert has repeatedly pushed for defunding libraries where minors can access inappropriate content, and he has said the State Library Board should be abolished for not supporting these efforts. At February's regular meeting, Rapert proposed that the State Library remove the ALA from its policies detailing its power to fund public libraries and scholarships for aspiring librarians. The board rejected the proposal. Rapert and Sullivan have both criticized the statement within the ALA's Library Bill of Rights that access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person's age. Far-right conservatives nationwide who object to the public availability of certain content have claimed this is proof that the ALA believes in forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children. Emily Drabinski, ALA's president in 2023, called herself a Marxist in a 2022 tweet after being elected into the role. Rapert and Sullivan have said this means the ALA supports a political agenda and expects libraries to do the same. Sullivan mentioned Drabinski's tweet in a February committee hearing over a bill he sponsored that is now Act 242 of 2025. The law removes the state's requirement for public library directors in Arkansas to hold a master's degree 'from an accredited American Library Association program,' and allows someone with 'work experience in the field of library operations' but without a master's degree to run a library with approval from its local governing board. Bill to loosen education requirement for public library directors heads to Arkansas House Knox said Friday that 'one outspoken president' of ALA does not represent the organization as a whole and she could not 'in good conscience' support cutting Arkansas' ties to a group that helps local libraries. Peña de Martinez agreed, saying 'the last thing we want is to dilute education.' 'We say we're an education state,' she said, referring to a comment Sanders has made several times, 'yet we want to reduce the qualifications for librarians. It's nonsensical to me that the political leanings of one former head of an organization would be enough for us in Arkansas to completely disregard the accreditation standards.' State libraries in some Republican-led states, including Missouri and Texas, cut ties with the ALA in 2023, and other states have made similar efforts since then. Late Wednesday night, Sullivan submitted an amendment to House Bill 1127, the bill to give the Arkansas State Library its spending authority for fiscal year 2026. If the bill becomes law with the amendment included, the State Library would not be allowed to 'budget, allocate, or expend any funding to any library' that is affiliated with the ALA, including as a member; refers to the ALA in any of its official documents; or 'makes payments or grants of any kind' to the organization.' A bill with a similar mandate for Iowa libraries has been advancing in that state's legislature , according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. The bill includes a ban on funding libraries affiliated with the state's chapter of ALA, the Iowa Library Association. HB1127 amendment 3.12.25 Sullivan once said the Arkansas Legislature should defund the Arkansas Library Association, which does not receive state funding. The Joint Budget Committee adopted Sullivan's amendment to HB 1127 Thursday morning. Rapert informed the Arkansas State Library Board of the amendment at Thursday's meeting and said it should have motivated the board to detach the State Library from the ALA. Joint Budget's Special Language subcommittee will be responsible for approving the amendment before the committee votes on the entirety of HB 1127. The subcommittee's next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday. After his ALA-related motion failed Thursday, Rapert said the board had 'sunk' itself and would 'walk the plank.' He also said Arkansas PBS 'at least was smart enough in their commission to make some changes.' Doss, the commission chairman, explained those changes in an interview Friday, saying he hopes Sullivan can be 'an asset' to Arkansas PBS. Sullivan's 'hot buttons' include 'corporate governance' and services for homeschooled children, and Arkansas PBS will focus on how best to handle both of those things, Doss said. Sanders appointed Sullivan's wife, Maria Sullivan, to the Arkansas Educational Television Commission last year. Doss said Maria Sullivan is set to lead an Arkansas PBS task force aimed at better serving homeschoolers. 'We hope we're well on the way to healing all around, and we'll continue to build PBS,' Doss said. He said at the commission's March 6 meeting that the agency would be 'a propaganda arm for whoever is in power,' regardless of the dominant political party, if it were no longer governed independently of the Department of Education. Sullivan told his colleagues the same day that he had drafted an amendment to remove Arkansas PBS from SB 184. As of Friday afternoon, the amendment was not available on the Legislature's website, and Sullivan has not filed any new legislation pertaining to the State Library. 'We've come up with a resolution I think we can work together on,' Sullivan said just before the Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 64, Arkansas PBS' fiscal 2026 spending authority. Discussion with bill sponsor 'saved' Arkansas PBS governing board from dissolution, chairman says SB 64 failed on the House floor Wednesday but can be taken up as many times as needed before the end of the legislative session next month. Appropriation bills need three-fourths of each chamber's approval, and the House voted three times each to pass the agency's fiscal 2023 and 2025 appropriations. Sullivan unsuccessfully tried to reduce Arkansas PBS' spending authority in the 2022 and 2024 fiscal sessions. He has been a vocal critic of Arkansas PBS, particularly since its regularly scheduled 2022 audit indicated that administrators might have sidestepped state laws related to contract bidding. A specially requested audit that concluded last year led auditors to forward the findings to a prosecuting attorney. Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger told lawmakers in September that the agency had learned from its 'mistakes and errors.' Editor Sonny Albarado contributed to this story. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
