Beaufort Co. decided not to ban most of its challenged books. Can the state overrule it?
Beaufort County public schools pulled nearly 100 books from libraries in October 2022, setting into motion a laborious review process that returned all but five titles to shelves.
A new statewide policy could undo that. Despite Beaufort County spending over a year to create and implement a book review process, the June 2024 regulation strips the school district of the final authority to decide what books go on shelves.
The policy creates a framework allowing local book challengers to appeal district-level decisions to the state. The state would then have the final say on the books, and the decision would be implemented in public school districts across South Carolina. The new state policy restricts who can make a challenge and how often.
Titles like “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson could be banned based on the new regulation despite Beaufort County review committees returning them to shelves. That is if the state school board determines they have descriptions of “sexual conduct.”
Opponents of the regulation say that S.C. Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver’s regulation is an overreach and invalidates Beaufort County’s book review process. They also raised concerns over the legislative process. The policy was proposed months after Weaver ended a 50-year partnership with the South Carolina Association of School Libraries, the organization that represents the state’s school librarians, in August. The policy took effect without a vote from the South Carolina General Assembly on June 25, 2024, following a state law that allows proposed regulations to become law if not voted on within 120 days.
Proponents say the new regulation creates a more uniform process for book challenges.
“It is well within the purview and the responsibilities under state law of this board to advise on the age-appropriateness and alignment with the South Carolina instructional standards,” Weaver said at an October board meeting.
In hopes of the books’ removal, proponents may challenge the books Beaufort County decided to put back on shelves at the state level.
“I felt (the books) needed to come out,” said Mike Covert who Beaufort County’s list of removed books originated from. “I felt it then. I don’t feel any different now.”
Covert and parent Ivie Szali submitted 97 books to be challenged. Szali told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that she was a member of Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for “parental rights” in education, but no longer considers herself a member. Szali asserted that the group didn’t motivate her to submit the list of books.
The new state regulations make it so only parents and guardians of registered students can challenge books, along with some other changes, according to Chief Instructional Services Officer Mary Stratos. Community members like Covert, who does not have a child in the school system, can’t challenge materials.
The state regulation also limits parents to challenge five books per month, Stratos said, preventing a mass challenge by one individual from happening again. Nothing prevents multiple parents from each making challenges.
What is the process now?
Beaufort County public schools won’t get rid of their review committees, according to Stratos. Instead, they become a step in the process, rather than having the final say.
If a parent or guardian wants to challenge a book, they must first appeal at the school level, meaning that school principals, librarians and teachers will discuss the book’s placement. A parent can only challenge a book available at their student’s school. If the school’s decision doesn’t appease the complainant, the parent or guardian can raise the challenge to the district level. The book will then go through Beaufort County’s set review process, in which residents, community members, and educators read the book and vote on whether to return it to shelves.
If the complainant is still unsatisfied with the decision they can bring the book to the state board, which will review the book and make a decision. Opponents of the regulation also take issue with the state board having final say, not a state review committee. The state school board is comprised of one elected representative from each of South Carolina’s 16 judicial circuits.
“There’s no model like what we saw happen in Beaufort County,” said Mary Foster from Families Against Book Bans, a local group founded in reaction to the 97 books’ challenge. Foster said many Beaufort County residents “felt really good” about the district’s process.
She raised concerns over whether the state school board members would read each of the challenged books before deciding, considering that they could be fielding challenges from each of South Carolina’s 85 school districts.
“There’s no conceivable way they will be able to read the books, which feels risky and unfair,” Foster said.
This story was originally published July 31, 2024 at 12:40 PM.
