PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The debate over explicit content in school libraries often devolves into one side calling it a “book ban” and the other side screaming “parents' rights.” But the author of a bill in the Pennsylvania Senate says his legislation tries to “thread the needle.”
Lancaster Republican State Senator Ryan Aument says his bill requires school districts to identify explicit content in their libraries and curriculum, notify parents with a list of titles, then allow them to review the materials before deciding if their child can have access through an opt-in policy.
“A parent's decision for their own child would not impact any other child's access,” he explained. “And surely, it would do much to bring down the temperature of these contentious local school district issues when it comes to sexually explicit books in our schools.”
Aument says his bill would not remove any books from shelves, but Western Pennsylvania Democrat Lindsay Williams still views it as a book ban.
“In violation of the First Amendment, but it is also part of the plan to destroy public education in direct violation of the Pennsylvania constitution,” Williams said.
Philadelphia Democrat Anthony Williams says he worries about unintended consequences of the legislation.
“Many of us were concerned about a parent walking in to a school saying, ‘This isn't appropriate for my child’ just based upon their limited exposure.”
The committee held a hearing earlier in the week with a concerned parent showing images from the book “Gender Queer.”
Sharon Ward, with the Education Law Center, says she’d never heard of the book until it was brought up in the Central Bucks School District. She says a Freedom of Information Act request showed the book had been on the shelves for a year, and was never once checked out.
The bill moved out of the Education Committee on a 7-4 party line vote Wednesday and is heading to the full Senate.