Nine Florida counties have removed hundreds of books from public school classrooms and libraries before the start of the 2025–2026 school year, according to a report from PEN America. Columbia, Escambia, Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, and St. Johns counties all have made books with alleged “sexual content” unavailable to students, fearing legal action from the state Board of Education and Office of the Attorney General.
In a statement, PEN America noted, “It’s likely that additional counties may have quietly complied by removing books out of fear of state retaliation if they did not.” Reporting over the past year suggests this is the case in Broward, Volusia, and other counties.
Stephana Ferrell, director of research and insight at the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said the removals are taking place swiftly and without any review process. “No district wants to be told they’re out of compliance, not with the law but with the people who are deciding whether they’re in compliance,” Ferrell told PW. “They’re not even doing it through formal letters and school board meetings anymore, and if you’re not paying attention as a parent, you have no say” in the materials your child can or cannot access at school, despite claims that Florida defends “parental rights.”
Florida happens to be the first state in the nation to have an Office of Parental Rights, established in April by state Attorney General James Uthmeier. On the OPR site, caregivers may “file a complaint” and are provided with a list of “common issues” that include “interference with educational choices” and “objectionable instructional or library materials.”
The current spate of book removals escalated in May, after AG James Uthmeier and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote to Hillsborough County public schools superintendent Van Ayres, alleging that Hillsborough school libraries contained “pornographic” material. Among the books in question, Diaz cited André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name and L.C. Rosen’s Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), two novels with LGBTQ+ content.
Ayres went before the Florida Board of Education to discuss the holdings of Hillsborough County’s school libraries, stating his confidence in school media specialists and promising they would review the more than 600 titles to which the state has raised objections. His testimony failed to persuade the Board of Education or the AG, although anti-censorship groups petitioned the state for a transparent and genuine review process.
PEN America Florida director William Johnson said the public feud between Ayres, Diaz, and Uthmeier “illuminates what’s happening across the state. We have an AG who publicly rebukes a local school superintendent for following district policy” on the review of instructional materials. “That makes clear that compliance isn’t enough unless it results in outright removal” of any book in question, he said; the message is to “forget about community dialogue and the expertise of librarians. Remove them or face the consequences.”
Johnson noted that the material deemed controversial tends to concern people of color and LGBTQ+ communities. Instead of the alleged “sexual content,” he said, “you’re seeing the idea that the exploration of identity is something that should be banned.”
In the weeks since the Hillsborough dispute became news, other Florida counties have begun preemptively scrubbing their shelves of books the state might deem inappropriate for minors. The pressure on Ayres has continued as well. On August 4, Florida education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas posted an image on X of transgender author Alex Bertie’s memoir Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard, which is in the collections of nine Hillsborough County high schools, saying that Ayres should “expect another invite” to the Board of Education.
Even the online reading platform Beanstack, to which more than 40 Florida school districts subscribe, has come under fire from Kamoutsas, who suggested it allows access to ideological content. Kamoutsas’s comments prompted the Florida Association of State Administrators to explain the platform's purpose, which is to provide schools and families with title and author information, enable children to log reading time, and gamify reading tasks; it does not provide books in any format. “Most of the schools said, ‘Hey, we checked, we don’t have any materials that violate the law,’ but some are putting use [of Beanstack] on pause,” FFTRP’s Ferrell said. “Teachers are afraid to offer access to classroom libraries because of this threat.”
Books and materials continue to be yanked from Sunshine State shelves despite prior decisions that establish more orderly processes. House Bill 1467, which became law in 2022, provides guidance on the approval of instructional materials. House Bill 1539, an effort to define “materials harmful to minors,” died in the Florida Senate Rules committee in June, and established obscenity laws already protects schools.
Further, the ongoing case of Penguin Random House LLC v. Gibson challenges the constitutionality of Florida House Bill 1069. HB 1069, signed into law in May 2023 by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, presently enables the removal of books from public schools and libraries when they are “alleged to contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct… pending resolution of an objection to the material.”
PEN America’s Johnson said when the situation becomes “disheartening,” he focuses on his job of providing outreach and technical support to changemakers like the LGBTQ+ youth organization PRISM and faith-based communities from Black churches to synagogues to civic groups. “We have to make people aware outside the publishing field,” he said. “My work is to share information and expand connections. We have to take the long view.”
