Report: Florida ranks second for school library book removals
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Florida school districts banned more than 3,000 book titles during the 2025-26 school year, according to PEN America's annual "Index of School Book Bans."
Why it matters: Florida in recent years has gained national attention for its continued effort to limit classroom discussions and for the number of book challenges across the state's school districts.
- Students across the state continue to report some of the country's lowest reading scores and literacy advocates argue removing access to popular titles could further disengage students.
Between the lines: The report follows a multiyear trend of removing titles officials deem inappropriate for students, which advocates say disproportionately impacts minority groups and increases self-censorship.
- PEN America monitors instances in which a title is temporarily or permanently removed from school libraries and classrooms in the U.S.
The big picture: Nearly 12,000 books were banned across the country — the highest number of recorded bans in a single year since the nonprofit began tracking bans in 2021. Last year's report cited 6,870 banned books.
- Texas surpassed Florida for the first time in three years, with 8,193 bans compared to Florida's 3,212.
- The report cites Texas' new state law that regulates how public schools catalog books and expands parental rights in the state.
State of play: The majority of books pulled from school libraries last year fell into the young adult fiction and manga (comic books and graphic novels) categories, per the report, with 90% of titles being fiction.
The intrigue: Artificial intelligence may be one reason for the dramatic uptick in banned books, according to the report's authors, who wrote that district administrators are "increasingly turning to AI to evaluate books for removal" under state law.
- In some instances, AI would recommend a book removal "not because the books are obscene under" state law, but because other districts have banned them, per the report.
Flashback: Last year, state officials accused Hillsborough County Public Schools of violating state law, resulting in the removal of hundreds of titles — including Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Toni Morrison's "Beloved."
- The threats from Attorney General James Uthmeier calling certain titles "patently pornographic" led to multiple districts removing a slew of titles, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Meanwhile, Florida Education Commissioner Henry Mack last month issued a memo to all district leaders, detailing a 90-day implementation plan to ensure library materials "are consistent with Florida law."
- "Make no mistake, the Department will hold districts, and the superintendents who lead them, accountable for failing to protect students from inappropriate content and material," Mack wrote.
The other side: "Schools should be doing everything possible to connect kids with reading," said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Freedom to Read program.
- "Instead, many are doing the opposite, banning books that help kids see themselves in literature, deepen their understanding and empathy of others, and develop their imaginations."