The Utah State Board of Education had the chance this week to overturn the statewide ban on any of the 13 books removed from public schools. However, board members didn’t take the necessary steps to make that happen.
On Aug. 2, Utah released its first-ever list of 13 titles to be pulled from all public schools, in accordance with a new law. The law mandates that a book be removed from every public school in the state if at least three school districts (or at least two districts and five charter schools) classify it as “objective sensitive material” — pornographic or otherwise indecent content, as defined by Utah code.
To overturn the ban, at least three state board members needed to request that the materials be added to this week’s meeting agenda for a vote. None did, and the 30-day window to do so has now closed. The board is scheduled to hold its monthly meeting Thursday and Friday.
State Board Member Sarah Reale said there are a couple of reasons why she and other board members aren’t pursuing the option to overturn the statewide bans this time around.
“At this point, I am just tired,” Reale said. “There are so many important things that our students and our teachers and our [schools] need right now, and focusing our energy and time on overturning the statewide book ban list does not seem like a useful, good use of our time.”
The list featured works by such acclaimed authors as Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood, as well as popular fantasy romance author Sarah J. Maas. Her books alone made up nearly half of the list, including the entire “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series.
“Although there are [titles] that I would argue are important to have in our school libraries, there are some that I think many feel comfortable with removing,” Reale said.
Reale added that there’s concern that if the board were to overturn any statewide bans, it might prompt the Utah Legislature to retaliate.
“The only good thing about the most recent sensitive material law is the fact that it does give the State Board of Education an option to overturn a statewide ban. …That’s an important check on the Legislature,” Reale said. “The Legislature, I feel, are borderline leaning towards unhinged when it comes to the way that they like to punish anyone who disagrees with their [culture war] bills.”
The new law, which took effect July 1, applied retroactively to titles previously banned by individual districts. Over the summer, districts and charter schools were instructed to reevaluate the books they had already banned before that date, using the state’s new “objective sensitive material” criteria, which had not been in place before.
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, spearheaded the law. He, alongside other conservatives like Congressman Burgess Owens, hailed it as a “bright day” for the state. Ivory did not immediately respond to The Salt Lake Tribune’s request for comment Wednesday.
If more titles are added to the statewide banned list, the State Board will still have the option to overturn them.
“If there were books that I heard from a lot of constituents… that they were really unhappy about them being removed from their library, and they showed how important those books are for their student representation,… I would absolutely try to overturn the statewide ban,” Reale said.
However, Reale said that few people raised concerns to her about the first batch of banned titles.
“I would recommend folks, if they do have issues with any books in the future that are put on this list, to reach out to their state school board member,” she said.