Florida revises school library book removal training after public outcry

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is moving forward with a revised training program for local public school officials in charge of policing library and classroom bookshelves, including language changes that free speech advocates said misrepresented state law and led to unnecessary book removals.

"Based on some stakeholder input, we'd like to provide some clarifying language," State Board of Education K-12 Chancellor Paul Burns said this week before the board approved. The board's vote came after more than a half-year of questions and concerns from advocacy groups and others, prompted by the Florida Department of Education's October memorandum instructing school leaders to remove any book that contained "sexual conduct." That's due to a Gov. Ron DeSantis-signed law.

Advocates like Stephana Ferrell, co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, applauded the state's action but said there are still some issues in the training that could cue up more removals. She was disappointed it took so long to make the change, believing action wasn't taken until another group, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, mentioned litigation.

FIRE, a First Amendment watchdog, said Florida's guidance ignored a carveout specifying that materials with sexual conduct must be removed "for any grade level or age group for which such use is inappropriate or unsuitable," an elevated evaluation expectation.

The organization also says the provision was meant for book challenges, not to require proactive removals of other titles. Sexual conduct is a broad term in Florida law encompassing various sexual acts.

"Some books that reference sex, including many classic works of literature, may be suitable for an 18-year-old high school senior but not for a ten-year-old fourth grader," FIRE wrote in a news release, adding its voice to the opposition a week before the vote when it learned the originally proposed training contained similar language to the memorandum.

That proposal was amended to make the distinction clearer.

"We appreciate the adoption of the last-minute amendment that resolves the confusing language and advises districts to conduct a thorough review of materials rather than permanently removing based on a single excerpt," the Florida Freedom to Read Project wrote in a statement released on social media. The group has been one of the loudest critics of the law and the state's guidance.

As reported by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, the training revision controversy went beyond its contents. The Florida Department of Education created a workshop group to help out, half of which were members of Moms for Liberty, the loudest advocates for public school book removals.

The move drew criticism from book access advocates and demonstrated the state’s willingness to cater to the conservative group, which has long supported DeSantis.

Advocacy groups still have concerns

FIRE said it was "very pleased" to see the change. It had warned the state of a potential First Amendment lawsuit had that not happened.

"This change is a win for Florida's students," said Aaron Terr, its director of public advocacy, in an emailed statement. "It should help stop the rampant censorship in Florida school libraries, many of which have removed hundreds of classic and contemporary books without evaluating their suitability for students."

Burns said the changes "strengthen the learning environment by making sure we continue to have great materials."

But the Florida Freedom to Read Project still had issues with the confirmed training, not liking that it keeps a slide warning educators to "err on the side of caution" with book removal decisions.

Ferrell, in a follow-up phone interview, added that she still doesn't think there's enough context in the training presentation slides that cite a preexisting criminal statute preventing the distribution of "harmful" materials to minors and warning about felonies if it's violated. The threshold to meet that standard is high, and any book that does so also couldn't be sold in a bookstore to a minor.

But those mentions alarmed and confused educators when the first version of the training was launched last year, contributing to a surge in school library and classroom book removals.

Data released by the American Library Association in March showed that Florida had more books challenged for removal than any other state in 2023. The group documented nearly 2,700 titles targeted for censorship in Florida.

Overall, 4,240 works in school and public libraries had been targeted in the U.S. in 2023 — a significant increase from the then-record in 2022 with 2,571 books.

Some counties have removed LGBTQ titles from shelves

Ferrell said the training was also fine-tuned to make clear that laws focused on regulating "instructional material" don't apply to library books. Some counties, for example, have removed LGBTQ titles following the passage of a law restricting classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.

But she recommended the state remove slides on "instructional materials" altogether to remove "all possibility of confusion or conflation and take out the completely irrelevant section in the training."

In addition, the revised training references 2024 legislation DeSantis called for and signed that limits how many books someone can challenge if they're not a student's parent or guardian. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said he appreciated some of the changes, but added that confusion wasn't just caused by the training slides.

"When the training was first implemented, I heard from a lot of media specialists around the state with concerns not just about the presentation, but what was being said in those (training) meetings," he told the State Board of Education on Wednesday.

"And so I want to, again, encourage you all to come out into the schools to work with us and making sure that what the intent of the law is is what is clearly being communicated and that there's not so much confusion."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at [email protected].