Pennsylvania was among the nation's leading book-banning states in the early years of the current censorship campaign, ranking second only to Texas in the first half of the 2022–23 school year. The number of recorded bans in our commonwealth has fallen since then, but the national movement has not. Nearly 23,000 book bans have been documented in public schools since 2021, and PEN America now describes book banning as "normalized." Many removals are no longer driven by any legal requirement, but by districts' fear of running afoul of vague laws and political pressure. Pennsylvania has no uniform safeguards to keep the next wave out of our schools.

These book bans are an attempt to censor educators and restrict the information and educational materials students can access in school. These effectively unilateral decisions by school boards are especially harmful to LGBTQ+ youth and students of color, because the books most often targeted are written by authors of color and LGBTQ+ authors and deal with race, sexuality, gender and history. Increasingly, these challenges do not come from parents at all. They come from organized groups and government-affiliated individuals, including elected officials and school board members.

These bans are also unpopular. In most districts where books were banned last school year, parents, students, librarians and educators organized to oppose them. Yet school boards continue to ignore their communities and implement these egregious policies.

It is time we establish uniform procedures that school boards must follow before they can eliminate students' access to books. That is why we are reintroducing legislation that will establish a process for school boards to adhere to before voting to ban, or require, any book in school libraries or curricula.

This legislation (formerly HB 2929 and HB 1374) would further prohibit school districts from banning books simply because they discuss topics like race and LGBTQ+ issues. It will ensure the voices of a district's teachers, students and community members are adequately heard when these important decisions are made.

Students should not be subjected to restrictive and potentially hostile learning environments because the school board of their assigned district decided which books they can and can't access in school.

Join us in protecting students' right to read and learn in public schools across our commonwealth.