Florida will spend millions over the next four years to work with a third party to create, maintain and monitor a system that makes it easier to review K-12 classroom materials.
The Florida Department of Education has entered into a $15 million contract with Maryland-based Trinity Education Group to build the database, which will be used to make sure that books and other resources comply with state laws.
It will allow K-12 teachers to upload materials to the site. Parents, residents and state officials can then search and review for compliance with state laws like HB 1069, which restricts sexually and age-inappropriate content.
Parents and residents will also be able to submit challenges to books on the site.
“It seems that the state has decided that it's not enough to ban thousands of books,” said UCF political science professor Aubrey Jewett. "We have to make it easier and spend millions of dollars to help people ban even more apparently."
Jewett said he’s surprised by this decision. The governor and state legislature attempted to restrict the number of unnecessary book challenges that have been made earlier this year.
In April, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1285 into law, which restricts the number of challenges people who aren’t parents in a district can make to one per month.
That’s after books like the Bible and even dictionaries and thesauruses were challenged in the state.
Jewett said this new database could have the opposite effect.
“Not only are they going to encourage more people to challenge books and remove books from Florida schools, but the taxpayers are going to get to pay $15 million to have them do that,” said Jewett.
In a statement, Florida’s Department of Education said the database will help school districts comply with the law and allow parents to review materials accessible to children in schools.
“The department firmly believes that parents have the fundamental right to know what materials their child is accessing at school," the statement read.
The state has already doled out $3 million for the service.
Last month, the department released a list of over 700 books that were pulled out of Florida K-12 classrooms and libraries, including classics like “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut and modern favorites like the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series by Sarah J. Maas.
PEN America ranked Florida first in the country last year for school book bans, with over 4,500 books banned throughout the state.
Read the full contract with Trinity Education Group here:
Copyright 2024 Central Florida Public Media
