THIS ISSUE BRIEF is part of a series examining a variety of controversial local and national issues, focusing on specific policy proposals that are under active consideration. The premise of these essays, as outlined here and here, is that many important public policy issues are more complicated than the most fervent adherents to either side usually acknowledge, a dynamic that often hinders our ability to engage in thoughtful debate. (Earlier essays in the series have addressed proposals for free community college, free MBTA service, the state’s right-to-shelter law, allowing municipalities to enact rent control, and whether the state should legalize supervised injection sites.)
For each proposal in the series, I provide some basic background, with a high-level framing of the disagreement and the polarized “bumper sticker” arguments on both sides. I then present what I believe to be the most reasonable evidence-based cases, pro and con. Each issue brief concludes with reflections on possible avenues for finding common ground or higher ground and some basic data points, with links to useful resources, to help facilitate a rational and civil dialogue, ideally leading to agreement or at least understanding, if not in the halls of power, then maybe just around the dinner table.
The Proposal: Strengthen the legal authority of school librarians to choose which books to acquire and maintain in public school libraries, while limiting the ability of local school committees, individual parents, or advocacy groups to overrule their decisions.
Background:
Under Massachusetts law, school committees have fairly broad authority, but with the adoption of the Education Reform Act of 1993, the Legislature attempted to place some guardrails around their powers to enable district administrators to exercise greater control over day-to-day personnel and educational matters. School committees, however, retain responsibility for approving annual budgets and setting high-level educational goals and policies, enabling them to establish criteria for acquiring library books. As a practical matter, decisions about book selections are often delegated to school librarians.
Although school committees are generally empowered to deal with parental and community complaints, they do not have authority to remove books that are already on the shelves in school libraries, except for good cause involving a valid educational reason or concerns about obscenity. These criteria, of course, are subject to interpretation and debate, but according to precedent from the US Supreme Court, school committees cannot remove a library book just because they disagree with the ideas or ideology it contains. Regarding the definition of obscenity, school committees are required to evaluate a book in the context of current “community standards,” including the extent to which it depicts sexual content in such a way as to elicit “prurient interest.”
Guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education generally discourage school committee involvement in making decisions about educational materials, except to the extent they reflect a major expense or a significant shift in a district’s curriculum.
State Sen. Julian Cyr and state Rep. John Moran introduced a bill last year that would add statutory provisions strengthening the role of school librarians and establishing mandatory procedures to clarify and constrain the authority of school committees in making decisions about library books.
Sticking Points and Bumper Stickers:
The debate over school library books has generally been cast in terms of freedom of speech vs. parental rights, but it has been precipitated recently by divisions on the cultural hot-button issues of gender identity and anti-racism.
No Book Bans!: Advocates for preventing parent groups and school committees from deciding what books to stock in school libraries argue that educational resources need to reflect the interests and affirm the identities of all students, including those who may feel marginalized. They argue further that educators should be empowered and supported in making choices about what books or materials are appropriate for a classroom or school library, without outside political or parental pressure.
Government is Not My Co-Parent!: Parental rights activists maintain that many schools have embraced progressive social and political ideologies that are contrary to the views of many, if not most, parents. By making books available to students that promote a “social justice” agenda, advocates claim that schools are exceeding their proper role, while stigmatizing religious beliefs and traditional values, introducing ideas to young children about sex and gender that are developmentally inappropriate and dividing students from one another on the basis of race.
Evidence-Based Case in Favor:
Society is changing rapidly, demographically and socially, and schools have no choice but to respond accordingly in order to meet the needs of their students. There is little debate that educators must try to ensure that no child is discriminated against, bullied, or shamed while in school and that all children feel welcomed and supported. This basic obligation is not about promoting a political or social agenda, but rather providing an environment where all students can learn, which is the core responsibility of the public education system.
One way to support students who may feel marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity is to provide them access to age-appropriate educational materials that reflect their experience. Creating a safe and welcoming learning environment also requires that from an early age all students develop a shared understanding of the diversity in their school and the wider community, a mission that is defined and endorsed through state regulation, guidance, and grant funding.
Equally important, students need access to information and perspectives from differing points of view to prepare them to be engaged citizens in an increasingly diverse and divided country.
Given this context, it’s incumbent upon school libraries to develop and maintain a broad array of books that give students the opportunity to freely explore their interests and learn more about themselves, their community, and their country.
Parents and community members should have a voice in how their public schools are run and what they teach – this is what elected school committees, school advisory councils, and parent associations are all about. Unfortunately, these established channels for receiving and incorporating citizen input have been increasingly pre-empted by a relatively small number of vocal activists with political agendas, frequently coordinated by national advocacy groups, such as Moms for Liberty.
According to a recent survey by the American Library Association, in 2023 there were 37 attempts to restrict access to one or more books in Massachusetts schools and libraries. Another survey of library staff conducted by several Massachusetts library organizations found that almost half of the respondents reported “they reconsidered displays and books or items featured due to negativity surrounding book challenges.” In Great Barrington, complaints about an allegedly obscene book even led local police to pay an official visit to the middle school library.
To prevent an even more politicized environment from further disrupting school libraries or inappropriately limiting student access to books that have been vetted by trained educators for their educational value, it has unfortunately become necessary to enact legislation that clarifies and strengthens the role of librarians to help them comply with official state policy and to simply do the job for which they were hired.
Evidence-Based Case Opposed:
Public schools are inherently political institutions and school libraries, unlike private booksellers or even public libraries, are established to serve a specific educational purpose, within the context of state regulation and local oversight by elected officials. Equally important, since school attendance is mandatory, there is an obligation for schools to do their best to accommodate or balance the diverse and sometimes conflicting interests of students and their families. This is no easy task, but it’s unavoidable.
As a practical matter, schools will never be able to make everyone happy all the time. The challenge is how to be transparent and responsive in a way that takes public and parental input seriously, without abdicating responsibility for exercising sound professional judgment. Put differently, public school educators are public servants who should respect and balance the legitimate interests of their stakeholders, rather than pursue their own agendas or routinely dismiss the views of people with whom they disagree.
Part of the energy behind challenges to book collections in public school libraries is the perception among many conservatives of a liberal bias among educators and librarians, especially as reflected in their professional associations. According the book selection criteria established by the American Library Association (ALA), school library collections should “represent differing viewpoints on controversial issues,” and yet ALA’s elected national leadership leans decidedly left, as do the leaders of Massachusetts’s largest teachers union, which represents most librarians.
There is no question that the extent and intensity of controversy surrounding school libraries has grown substantially over the past several years, especially from conservative parents (albeit not exclusively: see efforts to ban certain books by Dr. Seuss). Most of the turmoil, however, has taken place in states like Florida and Texas, which according to a study by PEN America account for almost two-thirds of all book restrictions or removals, with only one such instance occurring in Massachusetts.
Equally important, many of the so-called “bans” on books have not actually resulted in removal, but instead have limited access for younger children or instituted procedures for parental consent, actions that are broadly supported by most parents, but opposed by the ALA. According to a 2023 study conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, almost three-quarters of books that were reported as banned by PEN America were still available in school district libraries.
The bottom line is that school libraries are not the exclusive purview of school administrators or librarians; they are an integral part of a public education system that must be responsive to the perspectives of all its students, parents, and local communities.
Potential for Common Ground or Higher Ground:
Notwithstanding the ideological battle that is being waged over public school curriculum and school library books, there is general agreement that parents have a legitimate interest in their child’s education. Although the ALA rejects the notion that librarians should be gatekeepers who act on behalf of parents, it does acknowledge that “parents and guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children’s…access to library resources.”
But a hands-off approach that prioritizes a student’s freedom of choice is not consistent with the role schools and educators are expected to play in guiding student learning and development. And besides, school libraries don’t carry all books, only those that have been screened and selected; so, a student’s choice is inherently limited.
Although school districts are encouraged to establish book selection criteria to set the ground rules for librarians, many districts don’t have such policies, and if they do, the criteria are often vague or simply delegate the decision-making to the best judgment of library staff. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education could consider establishing stronger statewide guidelines for the adoption of such policies (as is the case in about 70 percent of states), based on a model developed by a diverse and impartial panel of librarians, educators, school committee members, and parents.
What seems to be of greatest concern to most parents is the extent to which their own children have access to certain books they find objectionable. Some districts are attempting to thread the needle by providing parental controls on library cards, so that students can’t borrow books that include what their parents consider to be inappropriate content, while freeing librarians from having to make individual judgments.
Jim Peyser served most recently as Massachusetts secretary of education under Gov. Charlie Baker.
Data:
Number of MA school librarians and media center directors (2023-24): 624 FTEs (1 librarian per 1,466 students), down 25% since 2008-9
Number of MA districts and charter schools with fewer than one full-time librarian or media center director: 196 (49% of total), up 54% since 2008-9
Number of school library books per student in the US (2012): 22 (approximately 11,000 per school)
Number of school library book acquisitions per student in the US (2011-12): 0.9 per year (approximately 450 per school)
Sources and Resources:
National Center for Education Statistics, Selected statistics on public school libraries/media centers, by level of school
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Staffing Report for Librarians and Media Center Directors
PEN American, Banned in the USA: Narrating the Crisis
The post Should we give school librarians more control over book selection, while limiting the say of school committees and parents? appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.