ON MARCH 16, 2023, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND RESET SENATE BILL 1078, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 makes the following changes to this bill: (1) Requires each local board of education and public charter school governing body to adopt a policy for classroom libraries; (2) Requires the policy to include a procedure for teachers, or for parents and legal guardians of students with access to a classroom library, to review and refer materials in a teacher’s classroom library for review and evaluation consistent with this bill; (3) Requires the policy to include a procedure to ensure that parents and legal guardians of students with access to a classroom library have multiple opportunities throughout the school year to view the books in their student’s classroom libraries; (4) Requires the policy to include a provision prohibiting teachers from knowingly or intentionally circumventing the LEA’s or public charter school’s library collection policy through the teacher’s classroom library, such as including materials in the teacher’s classroom library that have been found by the local board of education or public charter school governing body to be inappropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials, or that have been found by the local board or governing body to be unsuitable for, or inconsistent with, the educational mission of the school; (5) Provides, in the same manner as applied to school library collections, that, if the local board of education or public charter school governing body determines that material contained in a classroom library is not appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials, or is not suitable for, or consistent with, the educational mission of the school, then the school must remove the material from the classroom library; and (6) Provides, in the same manner as applied to school library collections, that the procedures adopted pursuant to this bill are not the exclusive means to remove material from a classroom library, and do not preclude an LEA, a school operated by an LEA, a public charter school, or the governing body of a public charter school from developing or implementing other policies, practices, or procedures for the removal of materials from a classroom library.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 68-1-101(a)(8), 68-1-101, 71-4-2102