Book removal shouldn’t be happening in Iowa

In most cases, when the Iowa Legislature passes a bill that becomes law, the department or agency charged with enforcing it writes administrative rules detailing how the law will be carried out.

But in the case of Senate File 496, the broad education law that mandates the removal of books from school libraries and curriculum that depict sex acts and bans LGBTQ content in grades K-6, the Iowa Department of Education has no current plans to write rules. Instead, officials say they’ll offer guidance on a case-by-case basis.

That’s left school district leaders and others in the dark as to how exactly to comply with the law. Should they remove many books, just to play it safe? Or should they be more discerning and hope they don’t run afoul of the law when penalties begin to take effect in January? Educators’ professional licensure is on the line should they slip up.

Republicans who backed the bill contend the law is clear, citing a list of sex acts detailed in the Iowa Code. But applying that test to books is more complicated. What constitutes a depiction of sex among the pages of much broader, valuable literature? Is it simply something GOP lawmakers and Moms for Liberty will know when they see it?

The lack of specific rules is a feature, not a bug. The vaguer the statute’s dictates are, the larger the chilling effect it will have on educators. Why take a risk and assign challenging books with controversial themes when it could mean being sanctioned?

The real goal of this law is to banish the perspectives of LGBTQ authors, writers of color and others who hold a worldview different from the beliefs of Christian conservatives. Let’s ban all the books that deal with structural racism, discrimination, real American history and, yes, in upper grades, sex.

It’s called the real world. And Republicans don’t want kids to learn about it.

So we’re not asking the Department of Education to craft rules. We’ve got two more important questions. Why are we doing this in Iowa and how can we stop it?

We sincerely hope there’s a court challenge attacking the law’s infringement of constitutional rights. We hope school districts use a scalpel for removing books instead of a sledgehammer. Better yet, we hope some district officials have the courage to stand up to this politically motivated sham.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com