S.C. House Bill Wants Statewide Rule for School Library Book Challenges

BY: ABRAHAM KENMORE/S.C. Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — A regulation creating a statewide system for challenging and removing books from school libraries advanced to the House floor Tuesday as the session winds down.

The regulation, approved in February by the South Carolina Board of Education, would rule that “sexual conduct” can’t be in library books, textbooks or any other classroom materials. But to take effect it needs approval by lawmakers.

The proposal moved one step closer to that approval after an 8-2 vote on party lines in the House Regulations Committee. Although Democrats and Republicans raised concerns about the proposed rule’s broad definition, the committee did not ask the Department of Education to make any changes.

“This is it,” Regulations Chairman Jeff Bradley, R-Hilton Head Island, told the SC Daily Gazette after the meeting. “We’ll see what the Senate does.”

The proposed rule would create a unified standard to judge whether books are appropriate for schools all across the state. It would also create a uniform method for parents to challenge books they think are inappropriate and allow for local school board decisions to be appealed to the state.

The regulation was previously held over in a subcommittee on April 10 for further discussion, with Bradley saying at the time it would likely return to the committee in January. But the subcommittee advanced the regulation a week later.

Civil liberty advocates and educators have testified against letting the regulation move forward in its current form. Many said the definition of sexual conduct is overly broad and could banish literary classics from library shelves.

School librarians did not testify at either of the subcommittee hearings but have also said the regulation is overbroad.

“School librarians were not consulted in drafting the regulations and while we advocated for several important amendments, the regulation is still too broad and subverts local control,” Tamara Cox, president of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, said in an email to the Gazette after the first subcommittee hearing. “We appreciate that our legislature is approaching the regulations with thought and care and SCASL will continue to advocate for regulations that protect the First Amendment rights of our students and their families.”

Miles Coleman, an attorney for the Department of Education, said that the regulation is easy to understand. Narrowing the definition will actually make it less clear, leading to lawyers arguing about what is and isn’t allowed, said the lawyer.

“They are not bright clear lines,” he told lawmakers Tuesday.

“It is such a bright line rule. That’s my concern,” said Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Folly Beach, of the regulation.

Rep. Raye Felder, R-Fort Mill, asked about adding the word “explicit” in front of sexual conduct. Coleman said the state board considered and rejected that.

“It introduces another layer of uncertainty and complexity,” he said.

Felder asked about whether challenges could start with the Department of Education, rather than local school boards.

“I just worry that this is now putting another burden on local school boards that may or may not have the resources, the capital, the time, the experience, to really review the books that are challenged,” she said. “Whereas the state department has an entire building with what, 13, 14 floors of people who could do it one time.”

Democrats on the committee tried unsuccessfully to kill the bill.

Bradley said his goal is to get the regulation passed in the House by the end of the session, which is just eight legislative days away.

Technically, the committee passed a resolution to approve the regulation, which Bradley said could help push it through.

The resolution was introduced by House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, last Thursday.

But its prospects in the Senate are unclear.