A parents’ group that opposes school library censorship has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Florida Board of Education seeking an amendment to a new rule that allegedly treats parents who oppose book bans differently than those who request book bans.
Moms For Libros alleges that proposed Rule 6A-1.094126 improperly favors book challenges by providing an opportunity to appeal to the Florida Department of Education only to parents or concerned citizens whose request to ban a book was denied.
“Under the proposed regulations, school boards will face a one-sided incentive to approve book challenges because only parents whose challenges are denied may appeal and, under HB 1069, school boards bear the costs for those challenges whether or not the challenges have merit,” the Aug. 22 letter states. “Giving parents who oppose a book ban the opportunity to make similar appeals would correct this imbalance.”
Florida HB 1069 is a new education law that restricts sex conduct books from age-inappropriate students and bans pronoun usage that does not match a child’s birth gender, according to media reports.
It also prohibits lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in 8th grade and below.
“They want to teach sex education in sixth grade after girls are already getting their period, which is ridiculous in my opinion,” said Moms for Libros co-founder Vanessa Brito. “They want to teach abstinence-only education, which is not right either because study after study shows that if you teach abstinence-only education, you end up with a higher rate of teen pregnancy and STDs within teen communities.”
Florida HB 1069 is a new education law that aims to restrict books that include “sexual conduct” from grades that are not age-suitable, prohibits the usage of pronouns that do not correspond to someone’s sex assigned at birth, bars classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from prekindergarten through grade 8, requiring all reproductive health materials be approved by the Department of Education and more.
The letter, written in association with the Southern Poverty Law Center, demands an amendment to the rule that would provide the same fundamental due process right to hear all parents and guardians who are interested in the books their children have access to.
“If we find there has been undue harm because of HB 1069 and where our parental rights are not being seen, I assume that we would explore our legal options but we won't be presumptuous although in our experience, the benefit of the doubt always ends up really hurting the parents and students more,” said Moms for Libros co-founder Lissette Fernandez.
A vote on the new rule is scheduled for October.