Florida Lawmakers Crack Down on Reading as Book Bans Broaden

Following the 2023-24 school year, Florida recorded the highest number of banned books in the country, banning 4,500 books throughout 33 of the state’s 67 public school districts. The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Color Purple and 1984 are just some of the many famous classics tacked to the state’s ban list. 

Florida now leads the United States in the number of books banned for the second consecutive school year, according to PEN America, a nonprofit organization that defends free expression and celebrates literature. 

However, the actual number may be higher than reported. School districts track formally challenged books but are not required to report books pulled from shelves without a formal challenge.

The bans come as a result of Florida House Bill 1069 (FL HB 1069)—dubbed the “Don’t Say Period” bill—which was sponsored by Rep. Stan McClain, who represents Ocala, a city south of Gainesville, in February 2023. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis that May, seeks to prohibit materials that contain “sexual conduct” which the state government deems is unsuitable for young students to learn about.

Many trace Florida’s book bans to conservative lawmakers and advocacy groups who gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Allison Grubbs, director of the Broward County Libraries Division. While the bans began in Texas, the idea spread nationwide, influencing legislation in states like Louisiana and Florida.

“This really started with the anti-mask groups during COVID and then they pivoted to parental rights and education,” said Grubbs. “This is fine when you’re talking about your own child, but it becomes not OK when you’re talking about other people’s children and determining how they raise them.”

Book bans intensified after DeSantis signed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (FL HB 1557) in March 2022, known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” The law gave parents more control over how schools teach sexual orientation and gender identity. A month later, DeSantis signed FL HB 7, banning Critical Race Theory, an academic framework examining systemic racism.

These bills fall under DeSantis’ May 2023 “Let Kids Be Kids” package, aimed at limiting discussions on gender identity and prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors.

Moms for Liberty, a nationwide conservative group founded in Florida in 2021 with local chapters across the state, played a major role in advocating for FL HB 1557 and other laws under DeSantis’ package.

During a Florida House panel meeting in March 2023, the House Education Quality Subcommittee voted 13-5 in favor of supporting FL HB 1069, pushing back against Floridians who worried that the bill would enable book bans. 

“The idea that book banning is taking place, and all of that, is a myth,” said McCain during the meeting.

However, critics argue that because the bans are government-backed, they serve partisan agendas rather than educational interests.

“There’s always been a challenge to books…but [they] were never emanated from the government. That’s the difference—this is coming from the government, which is true, true censorship,” said Mitchell Kaplan, the founder and owner of Books & Books, an independent bookstore in Miami with a literary foundation advocating for the freedom to read. 

FL HB 1069 requires that the Florida Department of Education must first approve a school’s curriculum. If a challenge is filed, the material in question must be removed within five school days and remain inaccessible until the challenge is resolved. 

The bill sets no limits to the number of challenges an individual may file in a given time period, and it also allows citizens to make objections even if they do not have a child in the district they are challenging. 

Some Floridians believe the bill’s broad wording encourages excessive challenges.

“[The bill] is written intentionally ambiguous with very ill-defining terms within the legislation – and that is by design,” said Maxx Fenning, the executive director at PRISM, a youth-led nonprofit organization that expands access to LGBTQ-inclusive education and sexual health in South Florida. “It is meant to create a culture among our schools, teachers and educators…to essentially do the dirty work for the legislature.” 

Amid concerns about abuse of the challenge process, DeSantis signed FL HB 1285 in April 2024, limiting individuals without children in a district to one challenge per month.

Some counties have extensive ban lists. Escambia County, on the Alabama border, led the state, banning 1,600 books in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, Broward County banned 11 books, according to PEN America. None were removed from Palm Beach or Miami-Dade schools—surprising many, as Miami-Dade is Florida’s largest public school district.

“The School District of Palm Beach County has not banned any books,” said Steven King, a media relations specialist for the School District of Palm Beach County, in an email. He added that they follow state guidelines.

Educators and activists worry bans disproportionately silence marginalized voices, including LGBTQ authors and writers of color.

“Books allow us to look into the lives of other people to build empathy for people who are different from us and for people who have different life experiences that we may not understand because we live in these bubbles…and we should work to understand them,” said Fenning. 

However, as Grubbs explained, books broaden a child’s horizons—and sometimes those horizons are broadened past those of their parents. This disconnect between parents and children seems to create a fear surrounding books and perpetuates the uptick in bans. 

While educators are worried about the social impacts of book bans, they are also concerned with the academic impacts, as Florida has the third-highest percentage of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills, leaving the state with an overall literacy rate of 80.3 percent, according to World Population Review.

“There’s a huge worry that this is fundamentally damaging to children,” said Grubbs. “Access to a wide variety of books is important for vocabulary, empathy and reading comprehension. Making [children] afraid of the library or afraid of certain books is a huge worry.” 

Some see book bans as part of a larger conservative push into public schools—especially as Republican politicians gain influence in Florida universities.

“Books bans are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a war going on, a war against public education, and there’s an attempt to dilute and to weaken as much public education as possible,” said Kaplan. “Where you have more conservative counties, the libraries are under incredible attack.”

As bans continue, six major publishers, including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, along with authors like John Green and Jodi Picoult, filed an August 2024 lawsuit against Florida.

The suit argues that terms like “sexual conduct” are too vague and violate First Amendment rights.

In May 2023, Escambia County families, Penguin Random House, and PEN America sued the local school board on similar grounds. A federal judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed in January 2024.

With legal battles ongoing, attention now turns to the Florida legislature’s March session—and to Trump’s education agenda, including plans to cut funding and dismantle the Department of Education.