Banning book bans: Nebraska should join the free reading club

In a bit of linguistic gymnastics, a number of states have now banned book bans in public libraries and public schools. 

Nebraska should be next in banning book bans. We’ve already hitched the Big Red Wagon to other states in lawsuits from voter registration to student loan debt and to federal regulatory authority. Although not a lawsuit, why not join this book club?

Illinois, Minnesota, California, Maryland, Colorado, Vermont and New Jersey have all passed laws that, among other things, ensure challenged titles are available to public school students and public library patrons who want to read them. The laws also protect librarians and administrators from running afoul of a spate of new laws moving in the opposite direction.

Conversely, 15 states introduced legislation in 2024 that would punish, sometimes severely, those who oversee collections that include books targeted by banners. 

Legal protections for banned books in Nebraska would give librarians and public schools the same peace of mind for simply doing their jobs as they advocate for literacy — all while preserving parents’ rights to opt their children out of assigned books they might find offensive. Nor does it prohibit parents from communicating with schools about books and curriculum, but it importantly recognizes and trusts the experience and expertise of librarians.

Imagine this marketing campaign: “Nebraska, the Good Life, Where You’re Free to Read What You Want.” 

The road to such sloganeering remains rutted and bumpy. Last March the Nebraska State Board of Education rejected a proposal to define and ban sexually explicit materials from school libraries. While the 5-3 vote sent one signal — and individual districts could still be the target of bans — five months later Gov. Jim Pillen sent his own message when he appointed a woman to the State Library Commission who had been recalled from the Plattsmouth Community Board of Education after she tried to ban 52 books there.

If you thought book banning was a passing culture war fancy and peaked when Moms for Liberty were running amok at school board meetings and on social media, check the latest arithmetic. A Pen America report revealed 10,046 cases of banned books in 2023-24 compared to 3,362 in the prior school year. 

Pen America is a literacy advocacy group that has, since its inception in 1992, tracked censorship and book banning. It reports that banners’ most common targets were the usual suspects: books with characters of color, LGBTQ+ characters, sexual themes, religious topics and American histories detailing atrocities such as slavery.

In a few of the states banning book bans, some school districts have indicated that to keep their bans in place, they may forgo state aid, the loss of which is a consequence for non-compliance. Whether that shows a real commitment, a nose-cutting-and-face situation out of spite or a dubious insistence on being right remains to be seen. I have no idea how it would help student academic performance or personal growth.

The larger issue — or question — remains: Who is in charge of our children’s education? 

Local control with oversight through school boards has long been a crowd favorite. As funding sources vacillate between local property taxes and state funding, however, does that also shift control of curricular matters such as which books will grace the shelves of the school library or individual classrooms? 

While we’ve fought over state standards, they still guide school leaders in just what Johnny should be learning.

Into this mix we must also stir in the federal rush to accountability when politicians entered classrooms without being in schools, passing the 1994 Improving America’s Schools Act, which repurposed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Prior to that we read with growing alarm a “Nation at Risk” in 1983, which chronicled our educational failures in a race toward “mediocrity.” In 2002, No Child Left Behind became the law. Since then we’ve had smaller fits and starts to improve faltering test scores and to engage young minds in the age of TikTok. 

Most of that came from positive motives, at least among those closest to the action — a classroom. Few if any, however, had an historic surge in book banning on their bingo cards.

Which makes now the perfect time for Nebraska to step out smartly and commit not simply to reading, literacy and parental involvement in their children’s education, but also to the notion that paying attention to what a child reads in a book — or, we should mention, online — is a good idea. 

Insisting on limiting what others can read, however, is not. Nebraska should make it official.