Iowa Board of Education advances new rules on school library restrictions

The Iowa Board of Education voted Wednesday to move ahead with final rules seeking to clarify restrictions under a state law that prohibits books and curriculum in K-12 schools that depict sex acts.

Legal challenges delayed that guidance and caused widespread confusion about what books are allowed. The law also prohibits discussion and instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade.

The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals in August lifted a lower court injunction that temporarily blocked parts of the 2023 state law from being implemented. Many Iowa school districts, though, already had removed hundreds of books in fear of violating the new law, including literary classics and those written by Nobel Prize winners. Many districts also expressed frustration with a lack of guidance from the state as to what library materials are and are not permissible in schools.

The federal appeals court vacated the district court’s injunction, setting it aside for using the wrong legal standard, and sent the case back to the district court to apply a new U.S. Supreme Court case in analyzing the parties’ arguments. With the injunction lifted, state officials can move forward with proposed rule making to implement provision of Senate File 496 that had been halted.

Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa — which are representing some Iowa teachers and students — are continuing to try to block the law in court. Major book publishers Penguin Random House, HarperCollins Publishers, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan Publishing Group, the state’s teachers union and four bestselling authors also are challenging the law in a separate case.

The group of authors, publishers, education groups and LGBTQ advocates argue the law violates their First Amendment rights to free speech.

What do the proposed rules say?

The proposed rules bar visual and written depictions of sex acts in books, and states each school district must establish a library program “that contains only age-appropriate materials, and that supports the student achievement goals of the total school curriculum.”

School libraries serving multiple grades are expected to “exercise reasonable physical, administrative, and technological controls to ensure that students have access to age-appropriate materials based on the students’ age and grade.”

A state board member questioned how districts would achieve that.

“Do we make this harder? … Is the school district supposed to say, ‘Well, this section of the library is only for pre-K through sixth (grade), or something, and this section is for seven, eight through 12th?” asked board member Brian J. Kane, a lawyer from Dubuque.

Thomas Mayes, general counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, said there are two layers to gauging age-appropriate: Any graphic or visual depictions of a sex act is inappropriate regardless of a student’s age, Mayes said. “But there are judgments of age appropriateness in addition to graphic or visual depictions of a sex act,” he said.

“So I think that the library program prior to this amendment never had any age-appropriate restriction in it. It was, you have a library program and there was no statutory duty to curate your library program based on age-appropriateness,” he said.

Only library programs operated by a school district, over which it exercises administrative control, are subject to the proposed rules. They do not apply to shared library programs between districts and public libraries.

The proposed rules allow for books to have “neutral” mentions of LGBTQ characters, Mayes said. That includes an observation or a factual reference regarding a book character's sexual orientation or gender identity that stops short of being a considered a promotion or instruction.

They also require school districts to maintain and update a comprehensive list of “all books available to all students in libraries offered by the district on its website in real time,” or at least twice a year.

Iowa school boards and school employees who fail to remove books in violation of the law could face a written warning for a first offense. Additional violations could lead to school superintendents being called before the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners for a hearing and possible disciplinary action, should an investigation by state education officials find the district knowingly violated the rules.

If a book is brought to a district's attention, the district is encouraged to voluntarily remove or restrict access to it, rather than requiring formal enforcement action by the state.

What’s the process for handling complaints?

Complaints can be taken directly to the local school board or directly to the Iowa Department of Education. There is no required sequence or exhaustion of local processes before a complaint can be filed with the department, Mayes said.

If a complaint is filed with the Department of Education, state officials will make a determination whether the book in question is age-appropriate.

If a school district determines a book is not age-appropriate, it may be a factor for other school districts that have the same book in their libraries, but it does not automatically mean the book must be removed from those other districts, Mayes said.

There are appeal processes available, either through the school board appeal process under Iowa Code Chapter 290 or the administrative appeal process, if a party is dissatisfied with the ultimate outcome regarding whether library material is age-appropriate.

When do the rules take effect?

After a public comment period and a public hearing on Dec. 11, the earliest the final rules may be considered is at the board’s February meeting. Depending on when the board takes action, the rules would go into effect in either March or April, according to an Iowa Department of Education spokeswoman.

The law is currently in effect and enforceable throughout the rulemaking process.

How many books have been removed in Iowa?

Iowa recorded the second-highest number of instances among states in the last school year where access to books in schools was restricted, according to a new report by PEN America, a literacy nonprofit that advocates for human rights.

PEN America recorded the highest instances of books being restricted or removed from school library shelves last school year and the highest number of unique titles banned, with more than 4,000 unique titles removed in over 10,000 instances nationwide.

Florida and Iowa led the country during the 2023-24 school year, due to schoolbook laws in both states, with more than 4,500 instances of books being restricted or removed in Florida and over 3,600 instances in Iowa.

Nationwide, more than 40 percent, or 4,295, were books completely prohibited from access — neither pending a review nor available with newly imposed restrictions.

Book that have been removed largely target titles with themes of race, sexuality and gender identity. Disproportionate to publishing rates, books being banned largely feature stories about people of color and LGBTQ communities, according to the nonprofit.

The report also found that books increasingly are being censored that depict topics young people confront in the real world, including experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns and sexual violence. Stories by and about women and girls, along with those that include depictions of rape or sexual abuse, are also increasingly affected, according to PEN America.

Nevada and Clear Creek-Amana public school districts had the most banned book actions in Iowa, with more than 225 each.

The nonprofit defines a schoolbook ban as when a book is restricted or removed from students' access due to challenges from parents or the community, administrative decisions or actions by lawmakers or government officials.

The most frequently banned or restricted titles that contain sexual content in Iowa include "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult; "Looking for Alaska" by John Green; "Sold" by Patricia McCormick and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. Both Picoult and Green are among authors suing over Iowa’s school library restrictions.

Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," George Orwell's "1984," Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five,” Lois Lowry’s “The Giver,” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” were also removed in some Iowa districts.

Opponents of the Iowa law say it is overly broad and poses an unconstitutional restriction on speech and the right to receive information. They argue there is a distinction between a school's curriculum and its library, which traditionally has been a place where students could freely access information regardless of its content, and that the law’s prohibition on depictions of sex acts goes beyond banning obscene or pornographic books.

Iowa Republican lawmakers have defended the law, saying books with graphic depictions of sex acts have absolutely no place in schools.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com