Report: “Iowans Can Now Weigh in on Proposed Rules For Banning Books in Schools”

From the Des Moines Register

For the second time in a year, Iowans will have the chance to weigh-in on long-awaited rules related to parts of a 2023 state law that requires school staff to remove books depicting sex acts.

The Iowa Department of Education’s Nov. 5 public hearing is for the recently released regulatory analysis related to Senate File 496, said Heather Doe, the department’s spokesperson, in an email. The analysis includes proposed rules.

Senate File 496, the Republican’s sweeping education law, requires Iowa schools to remove most books that depict sex acts from shelves, provide age-appropriate learning materials, and bars discussion and instruction through sixth grade pertaining to gender identity and sexual orientation.

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Widespread confusion has surrounded what books are allowed under SF 496 even as schools have removed almost 3,400 books across the state, including classics, children’s literature with LGBTQ+ characters, and stories about the holocaust and World War II, according to an exclusive Des Moines Register survey.

A previous attempt to pass rules related to these parts of Senate File 496 was stymied by a federal court judge’s injunction in two federal lawsuits against the law. An appeals court subsequently lifted that injunction.

Last June, the Iowa Board of Education passed rules related to the law’s requirement school administrators alert a student’s caregiver or parent if the child wants to use a different name or pronouns.

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