Controversial Florida School Boards Bill Put On Hold
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - A controversial House bill that would impose eight-year term limits on school board members and increase scrutiny of school library books and instructional materials has temporarily stalled in the Senate.
The Senate Rules Committee had been scheduled Wednesday to consider the bill (HB 1467), but Education Chairman Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, requested to postpone it.
The House passed the measure on Feb. 10 in a 78-40 vote on nearly straight party lines.
Along with proposing term limits for county school board members, the bill is largely aimed at increasing access for parents and members of the public to the process of selecting school books. Under the bill, committees that meet for the purpose of "ranking, eliminating or selecting" school instructional materials would be required to include parents of students in the school districts.
School boards also would be required to publish to individual schools' websites the procedures used in developing media center collections. The measure would require that such procedures provide for the "regular removal or discontinuance" based on several factors, including books' alignment to state education standards and relevance to the curriculum.
Elementary schools would be required to publish lists of all materials in their media centers or used in school or grade-level reading lists.
House Democrats this month objected to the parts of the bill dealing with books and learning materials.
"Giving a racist who lives anywhere in the world the opportunity to infiltrate our communities and to spread their hatred by banning a book that my child might read, that might redirect them, is wrong," Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, argued.
Republicans, however, have argued that the bill is aimed at providing increased transparency about materials that students might encounter in classrooms.
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