Report: “Florida Parents Sue State Over Law On Challenging Books In Schools”

The lawsuit targets how Florida’s education department is carrying out pieces a sweeping 2023 education law that, among other things, expanded policies surrounding local book challenges. Under this law, books facing objections for being pornographic, harmful to minors, or describing or depicting sexual activity must be pulled within five days and remain out of circulation for the duration of the challenge. That law prompted a national outcry after local schools received hundreds of challenges to a wide range of books, sparking reviews into Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “And Tango Makes Three,” a kids book about a penguin family with two dads.

The law also created an appeals process for parents who disagree with how a school board rules on a book review, which is the subject of this latest legal challenge.

The group suing contends that this policy, as executed by the state, excludes parents “opposed to censorship” because only books local officials deny removing can be appealed. One of the parents, Stephana Ferrell, from Orange County, attempted to appeal the local school district’s decision to remove “Shut Up!” by Marilyn Robinson to the state yet was ultimately told that “a special magistrate is not available to contest a district’s decision to remove material.”