Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Tuesday that will make it harder for some people to ban books in the state’s public schools. The new law, part of the wide-ranging education bill HB 1285, will cap the number of challenges on school materials that an individual can make per year, if they do not have a student enrolled in that district. DeSantis said the bill will help protect schools from activists trying to politicize and disrupt a district’s book review process.
And so that involves objecting to normal books.' Previously, there were no limits in place on who could challenge books and other educational materials or how many challenges one person could submit. Under the new bill, individuals without children in the district will be limited to one objection per month, Fox 13 Tampa reports.
During the 2022-23 fiscal year, there were more than 1,200 book objections in Florida, according to state records. More than half came from counties Clay and Escambia. 'This is designed, like the governor mentioned before, to allow parents to have a say, allow parents to challenge books that shouldn't be in a school,' Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said.
School districts and charter schools will be required to provide 11th and 12th-grade students with the opportunity to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test and the ability to consult with a military recruiter. Additionally, the bill provides a process for a struggling school to convert to a charter school. 'Florida is the number one state in the country for education,' DeSantis said.