Book Banning in Florida: A National Blueprint

Since the start of 2025, free expression and freedom to read organizations have raised alarm over the new federal administration’s adoption of policies, practices, and rhetoric to suppress speech and restrict access to information. The administration has dismissed books bans as a “hoax,”  chilled discussions of “race, color, sex, or national origin” by prohibiting so-called “discriminatory equity ideology” in K-12 schools, eliminated federal funding for promoting what it has termed “gender ideology,” and sought to advance ideological control of education under the guise of advancing “parental rights.” 

Each of these federal actions has had a test run in Florida. Since 2021, the Sunshine State has led the country in advancing the “parental rights” agenda. Contrary to its name, this agenda has used fuzzy, coded language to manufacture moral panic, and to deliver control over what students can read and learn in schools not into the hands of all parents but to a particular segment of citizens — some not even parents but community members. The cumulative effect has been to privilege some parents’ ideological preferences above all others, tie the hands of educators, and limit students’ access to information through curricular prohibitions and book bans.

With the advent of the second Trump Administration, the country now faces the prospect that Florida’s approach to public education will become a blueprint for federal policy. For any informed national debate about these policies, it is imperative to examine the direct and indirect forms of censorship that these laws have enabled over the past four years: banning books about penguins and Michelangelo’s David, purging school and classroom libraries, canceling field trips and theatrical productions, censoring student clubs, and revising and removing certain textbooks. Though often trumpeted ardently by their supporters as advancing “parental rights”, this suite of education laws in Florida has had a detrimental impact on the state’s public schools, chilling the climate for teaching, learning, and open inquiry. Florida’s rising generation of students will bear the brunt of these short-sighted decisions.   

In a report on “parental rights” legislation in 2023, PEN America cautioned that despite the fact that encouraging greater parental involvement in schools can seem like a  “common sense” proposition, “these bills have an ulterior motive driving them: to empower a vocal and censorship-minded minority with greater opportunity to scrutinize public education and intimidate educators with threats of punishment.”

“After four years living under these laws as a Florida public school parent, nothing about “parental rights” policies are “common sense” in practice” said Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) co-founder, Stephana Ferrell. “Instead, it is a guise for a full throated censorship movement that serves to remake schools and especially the experience of our students, forfeiting their rights, as well as ours as parents. State officials are only interested in defending the rights of those that happen to agree with them.”

This brief provides key reflections and warnings based on this experience in Florida. Our goal is to offer others a deeper understanding of how various policies have played out on the ground, and to help those who want to fight this scourge and mount a strong defense of the right to read. 

As these threats move to the national arena, it is time for more parents to speak up and have their voices heard when it comes to public education.

Here are some ways to get or stay engaged:

1. Find a local group that is showing up to protect the freedom to read in a way that connects with you. If there isn’t one, consider starting one. Fight for the First is a free platform developed by EveryLibrary for this reason. 
2. If you are an active member of a grassroots organization with an interest in first amendment issues, get connected to larger coalition efforts at the state or national level.
3. Subscribe to Kelly Jensen’s weekly Literary Activism newsletter to stay in the know. She also has a much larger list than this one of simple things you can do to support the freedom to read.
4. Reserve time on your calendar to regularly reach out to the elected officials that represent you, and ask for a virtual meeting when there is a policy or bill you’re concerned about.
5. Make time to testify at public hearings, whether locally or in your state capitol. 
6. Host events that help bring local awareness to this issue and empower people to speak out in support of the freedom to read.
   1. Our favorite recommendation is a book exchange:
      1. The first 20-30 minutes are treated like a speed-dating event where attendees mingle and share what they loved about the book they brought to exchange for something new. 
      2. The next 10-15 minutes discuss local, state, or national concerns around book bans and education censorship. 
      3. The final 10-15 minutes are reserved for exchanging books and information to ensure people stay connected to your efforts. 
7. If you’re a writer (professional or hobbyist), consider submitting op-eds around this issue to your local paper, or authoring a petition or open letter that can be amplified by local, state, and national organizations or media.
8. Connect with other parents at the Freedom to Read Project.
9. Become a member of PEN America.

Florida is a warning sign of what this country could become when we allow a false narrative about “parental rights” to be used by the state to misrepresent the preferences of all parents. We should not let the Sunshine State become the blueprint for public education across the country.