TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A new report claims Hillsborough County Schools pulled more books from its shelves than any other district in Florida. But district leaders said the report doesn’t tell the full story.
The free-speech group PEN America released its latest index of school book bans for the 2024–2025 school year.
The report ranks Hillsborough County second in the nation for removing school library books, with more than 600 titles listed as removed during the last school year.
Statewide, the report found 2,304 book removals across Florida schools, more than any other state.
Hillsborough County School District officials dispute the numbers.
A spokesperson told News Channel 8 that only 59 books have been permanently removed from school media centers. The higher number, according to spokesperson Tanya Arja, includes books that were temporarily removed from shelves for review after pressure from state education officials.
“After the attorney general sent that second letter to Hillsborough County and the superintendent agreed to pull all the books that appeared on the state list, we requested the records,” said Stephana Ferrell, with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, which helped provide data for the report. “We found more than 10,000 physical copies of books were pulled from shelves in just a few weeks in May.”
Ferrell said those books were counted because, while under review, students cannot access them.
“Students didn’t have access to those books, whether it’s temporary or permanent, that’s still a restriction,” Ferrell said. “Anytime access is denied for a specific reason, that’s a book ban.”
The review of hundreds of books began after state education officials urged the district to remove and review titles flagged as potentially inappropriate on a state list.
To ensure system-wide compliance and consistency in Hillsborough County, titles on the FLDOE 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 state lists were placed under review. This process started over the summer when students were not in school.
Florida law requires that the titles on the FLDOE Florida Statutes List must be reviewed each year by all school districts in the state.
According to the district, each year, certified Media Specialists go through a vetting process of their entire collection.
Materials can be considered for removal based on criteria such as physical condition, lack of alignment to state academic standards and relevancy to curriculum, factually inaccurate and/or out-of-date content, alignment with Florida Department of Education training, alignment with the Library Media Legal Technical Assistance documentation; or removed as a result of a formal challenge.
Some parents argue that the removals are necessary to protect children.
“If you want your children exposed to this kind of content, you can get that content outside of schools, outside of taxpayer-funded school libraries,” said Julie Gebhards, a Hillsborough County parent who has spoken out at school board meetings, and is a member of the group Moms For Liberty.
Ferrell said the broader concern is who gets to decide what students are allowed to read, and where, and whether limiting access could infringe on students’ rights.
“If you deny access to a book without reading it in full to consider its literary, artistic, or political value, you may be infringing on First Amendment rights,” Ferrell said. “Students have the right to access information in a publicly-funded library.”
District officials say the review process is still ongoing, but did not specify how many titles remain under review or when it will be completed.
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