Book Removals

On "The Florida Roundup," we dive into the debate regarding school book removals across the Sunshine State.

This week on "The Florida Roundup," we spoke about book restrictions in public schools, the availability of COVID-19 boosters in Florida following changes to CDC guidelines and more.

On "Florida Matters: Live & Local," we’re talking about Florida’s government shutdown and unpaid workers, uncertainty over vaccine mandates, and the growing debate over books being pulled from schools.

The judge rejected First Amendment arguments raised by the authors of "And Tango Makes Three," adding the school board "simply decided students wanting this particular book will have to get it elsewhere.”

The state had more than 2,300 titles removed from shelves or restricted last school year, according to data released by a national free expression organization.

Current and former board members went to a federal appeals court as they continue seeking to be shielded from testifying in a long-running legal battle about removing or restricting access to books.

The situation raises questions about the balance between local autonomy and executive power in Florida.

In his ruling, the judge wrote the law “does not evaluate the work to determine if it has any holistic value” and “does not specify what level of detail ‘describes sexual conduct.’”

“Blankets” by Craig Thompson and “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins were pulled from shelves In Hillsborough County schools. That makes 57, with more than 500 awaiting review.

The judge ruled the law is unconstitutional as it infringes on the First Amendment rights of students.

The Orlando-based federal judge focused primarily on part of the legislation that seeks to prevent the availability of reading material that “describes sexual conduct.”

The Escambia school board voted 5-0 to remove hundreds of books without review. The books in question come from the Florida Department of Education's book removal list.