Rabb highlights bold legislation to crack down on school book bans during Banned Book Week

Rep. Christopher M. Rabb    September 25, 2024 | 2:19 PM

HARRISBURG, Sept. 25 – In line with National Banned Books Week, state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., is highlighting legislation he reintroduced in 2023 that would establish procedures to protect public school students’ right to read and learn.

“Book bans are an attempt to censor educators and restrict the information and educational materials that students can have access to in school,” Rabb said. “In addition, these effectively unilateral decisions made by school boards are extremely harmful to LGBTQ+ youth and students of color, given that the subjects discussed in these so-called ‘inappropriate’ and ‘explicit’ books often discuss many serious and real issues impacting these communities.”

Efforts taken to ban books are often unpopular among both teachers and students, Rabb said. However, misinformed, politically motivated members of school boards continue to run roughshod despite protests by education professionals and students themselves.

Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of being the state with the second highest number of books banned from school libraries and curriculum by school boards. And at a time when the prospects of right-wing censorship efforts loom large, such initiatives as Project 2025 would force librarians and teachers to be registered as sex offenders for making available and teaching books that extremists simply don’t like, said Rabb.

 

This legislation would require school boards to establish an educational resource material review committee that goes through a thorough review of the materials as facilitated by experts familiar with the content of the disputed material prior to a motion being made by an elected school board to remove such material. It also requires that the elected school board member who seeks to ban a book sign an attestation that they have checked out and read the entire book they seek to ban within the past 12 months.

As well, the legislation would prohibit school districts from banning books because they discuss topics such as race and LGBTQ+ issues.

This bill awaits a vote in the House Education Committee.