Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed into law an education bill that restricts the ability for some to challenge books in school districts, after alleged abuse by activists.
DeSantis signed into law HB 1285 on Tuesday, which includes education provisions that will help struggling schools convert to charter schools, and a rule that limits book challenges for people who do not have children in the school system. The Florida governor said in a statement the law helps build on the state’s education agenda.
“By focusing on core academic subjects and rejecting indoctrination in the classroom, we have become a standard-bearer for educational excellence,” DeSantis said in a statement on Tuesday. “The legislation I signed today continues to build on Florida’s previous accomplishments.”
The law will not restrict how many books a parent with a student in the school district may challenge, but it only permits one challenge per month for those who do not have children in the district. The governor’s office says the new provision in the law will protect schools from “activists trying to politicize and disrupt a district’s book review process.”
“The idea that someone can use the parents’ rights and the curriculum transparency to start objecting to every single book, to try to make a mockery of this, is wrong. And you had examples where books were put under review that are just normal books that have been in education for many many years,” DeSantis said at an event on Monday.
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The 2022 law that opened the door for parents to challenge materials in schools has been used to remove books with inappropriate material from school libraries, but DeSantis accused activists of challenging inoffensive materials to wreck havoc with the system.
Left-leaning activist group Pen America claims Florida has seen the most books pulled from school library shelves during the second half of last year. The group and other activists has labeled the efforts “book bans,” but challenging a book does not affect its ability to be purchased or read outside of school libraries in Florida.
