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6 major publishers suing Florida over 2023 education bill that limits access to some books

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Published  September 2, 2024 8:35am EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News

Publishers sue Florida over school book review process

Regina Gonzalez reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - Six major book publishers are now suing the state of Florida, over what they call an unconstitutional book ban.

Top state education officials and school board members in Volusia and Orange counties are named as defendants in the 94-page lawsuit brought by Penguin Random House, Hachette book group and other major publishers, plus a list of bestselling authors.

Two students and their parents are also named as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in federal court in Orlando.

They argue that provisions of Florida's 2023 education bill - H.B. 1069 - violate constitutional rights by unjustly restricting access to books.

The bill requires public school libraries to review any books or instructional material -to make sure they didn't include any pornographic material.

Challenges to that same material could also be submitted by the public.

READ: Disposal of books lands New College library dean on administrative leave

The documents name several books that have been removed from school libraries under the law, including works by renowned authors like Maya Angelou and Ernest Hemingway.

Part of their case reads:

"Authors have the right to communicate their ideas to students without undue interference from the government. Students have a corresponding right to receive those ideas. Publishers and educators connect authors to students. If the State of Florida dislikes an author’s idea, it can offer a competing message. It cannot suppress the disfavored message."

READ: DeSantis signs bill scaling back some book ban rules in Florida public schools

Governor Ron Desantis, however, is not named, despite him backing the original bill.

Apparently, he even thought some challenges went too far over the last year.

In April, he signed another bill that amends the state’s law to limit the number of books and classroom materials that can be challenged in school districts.

That bill, which went into effect on July 1, states that Florida residents without children in a school district "may not object to more than one material per month" and instructs the state’s Board of Education to adopt changes to implement the decision.

This latest lawsuit does specify that these plaintiffs are not trying to overturn the entire law, nor do publishing companies want Florida school districts to carry obscene books.

The goal is to reject parts of the law that prohibit content that "describes sexual conduct" and the vague description of the word "pornographic."

The publishers are also involved in ongoing legal battles in Escambia County, Florida, where books were removed from school libraries under similar circumstances.

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