Florida school board adopts library policy to comply with 2022 state law

A Florida school board has approved a new library and media policy requiring parental consent for students to check out books containing inappropriate content, such as profanity, violence, sexual content and gender theory.

The Clay County School Board’s new policy also removes any limits on the number of books parents and students of the district can challenge. 

Those who live in the district but aren’t a parent or student are limited to one book challenge per month. 

School board member Beth Clark said the new guidelines were passed to comply with state mandates. 

“Basically, we have to remove porn and they laid it out as far as what is porn,” Clark said, according to News4Jax. “There are certain guidelines that the district has to follow. So, it’s pretty straightforward for those that deal with it every day.” 

In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1467, which requires books to be reviewed by a district employee holding a valid educational media specialist certificate to ensure they’re free of pornography or certain race-based teachings.  

“I just think parents, when they’re sending their kids to school, they should not have to worry about this garbage being in the schools,” DeSantis said at the time.