SB 765 - This act prohibits obscene or harmful materials from being accessible to minors in public and charter schools. The act defines material that is "harmful to minors" as material depicting nudity, sexual conduct, excessive violence, or sadomasochistic abuse that appeals to the prurient interests of minors, is patently offensive by community standards, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. "Obscene" content is that which predominantly appeals to prurient interests, depicts sexual conduct offensively, and lacks serious value. "Material" includes books, magazines, pictures, films, statues, and similar content, as provided in the act.

School districts and public schools, including charter schools, are prohibited from allowing obscene material or material that is harmful to minors in school libraries or in instructional materials used by teachers. Each school board of a school district and governing board of a charter school shall adopt a policy enabling parents to report materials they believe are inappropriate. Upon receiving a report, the school district or charter school shall remove the material for 30 days while the school board or governing board reviews the material to determine its appropriateness. If found harmful, the material shall be permanently removed from the school; if not found harmful, the material shall be returned to the school library or teacher. Schools that fail to comply with these provisions may face state funding penalties, as provided in the act. Each public school or charter school shall annually report to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on any material that is permanently removed.

Additionally, public schools with public access computers shall prohibit access to obscene material and material that is harmful to minors on such public access computers, as well as adopting policies to restrict minors from accessing such material on such computers.

This act is identical to HB 462 (2025) and HB 2374 (2024).

OLIVIA SHANNON