The organization reports that Florida had the second-highest number of book-banning incidents in the nation during that period, trailing only Texas.

The nation has seen a surge in book bans over the past two years as parents, conservative activists, and elected officials have flooded school districts with requests to wipe scores of titles from classrooms and libraries - with Florida continuing to lead the pack in such incidents.Īfter more than 200 books were banned in various school districts across Florida between the summer of 2021 and 2022, districts continued the crackdown, banning 357 books between July and December 2022, according to the nonprofit organization PEN America. Still, there's one item school districts in Florida appear to have consistently banned more than almost any other U.S. It's part of a nationwide push by conservative politicians to draw their battle lines in the culture wars and signal to their constituency that they're decidedly anti-woke. Ron DeSantis' administration and the state's Republican-dominated legislature have instituted a dizzying number of regulations restricting what Floridians can say, read, and scroll through mindlessly. Florida's been banning a lot of things these days.įrom an AP African American studies course to classroom gender-identity discussions to TikTok on university phones, Gov.

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