Florida again leads US in book bans at public schools, new report finds

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Sunshine State led the nation in school book bans for the 2023-24 academic year, according to a new report released Friday.

There were 4,561 instances of book banning in Florida public school districts last school year — accounting for about 45% of all book bans nationally, according to the report by PEN America, a free speech group.

The report blamed a 2023 Florida law (HB 1069) for the bans. The law expanded the Parental Rights in Education law, which was dubbed “don’t say gay” by critics and put any book that included “sexual conduct” under scrutiny. Orange County Public Schools removed nearly 700 books from classrooms in 2023 for fear they violated the law. Educators across the state removed titles they worried would no longer pass state muster, from classics by Ernest Hemingway to the picture book “No, David!”

PEN America found Florida led the nation in book bans the previous school year, too. Last school year, there were more than 10,000 instances of book bans across the country, and 4,200 unique titles banned this year, it found.

The Florida Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called book banning a “big hoax”, but conceded that few “bad actors” had made removing books a political issue.

Stephana Ferrell, a Orange mother who helped found the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said the actual number of books removed from Florida schools is likely much higher than PEN America’s count, as some teachers and administrators quietly removed books they worried violated the state law, self-censoring even if no one objected to the titles.

“HB 1069 really paved an easy path for censorship,” Ferrell said. “The idea of what should be available for our children, it’s being trampled on and being ignored and being dismissed, especially when the state says, ‘No, that’s not happening’,” she said. “Gaslighting gets used a lot, but I mean, come on.”

Materials removed from schools disproportionately describe race and racism, LGBTQ+ people and characters, people and characters of color, and books with sex-related content, the report noted. The removed books often included depictions of substance abuse, grief and mental health, it added.

Book bans in Florida cost districts between $34,000 and $135,000 per year, according to the report.

The organization defines a book ban as, “any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.”

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