New Law Limits What Books School Districts Can Ban, After School Districts Tried To Ban A Bunch Of Books

California's new state law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday will fine schools that ban books based solely on the inclusion of race, gender, or other identity groups. It also allows the state to buy textbooks and other instruction materials for districts that aren’t following California’s anti-discrimination laws. The school district would then have to pay for those replacements.

Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley) introduced the bill in February. He said he was inspired to act after seeing book bans take effect in Florida; he said he felt it was only a matter of time until the debate came to California.

Two months later, the Murrieta Valley Unified school board voted 3-2 to reject an 11th grade social studies textbook that had been proposed by its teachers. During public comments at the board meeting, several speakers said the book was biased against former President Donald Trump and included elements of critical race theory. Board member Nancy Young, who voted to approve the book, said none of those speakers were parents of students in the classes. She said most of them came to Murrieta from other cities for the school board meeting.

Assemblymember Jackson said he was deeply saddened to see book banning here, but he was not surprised.

“California continues to portray itself as some progressive state,” he said. “But I grew up here in the Inland Empire that has deep history of racism, oppression, redlining — and we know that there are still areas within the Inland Empire that still reflects that past.”

The next month in May, the Temecula Valley Unified school board also voted to reject state-approved social studies textbooks. Three of the Temecula board members objected to a section about Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official. Board member Steven Schwartz said the books had already been piloted by roughly 50 teachers and 1,300 elementary school students. Schwartz said they didn’t get any parent complaints about the material during that pilot.

Governor Newsom threatened to fine the Temecula Valley Unified School District $1.5 million if it did not use the state-approved books. Days later, the Temecula school board voted to adopt them in an emergency meeting.

The state’s intervention in Temecula helped shape this new law. Assemblymember Jackson said Governor Newsom and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond asked him to incorporate a fine into his bill because it would be one of the best deterrents for school districts. Governor Newsom referenced the incident in a statement:

“It’s sad that we have to pass laws to stop the banning of books in the United States,” said Young.

Stephanie Moran Reed, a co-founder and owner of Mija Books, said there is a common theme with book bans.

“There are very specific groups that are being targeted, specific themes,” she said. “The common thread there is that it's either a character of color, or somebody in the LGBTQ community.”

When Governor Newsom signed the bill, the law went into effect immediately.

California is the first state to have a law against book bans take effect. Illinois passed a similar law in June, but it does not go into effect until January 1, 2024.