Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost Pitches Bill to Fight DeSantis Book Bans (Exclusive)

As GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signs laws making it easier to challenge books in Florida schools, a Democratic lawmaker from his state is proposing legislation to help keep those books on school library shelves across the country.

The proposed “Fight Book Bans Act” by Rep. Maxwell Frost would give school districts up to $100,000 to oppose challenges to educational and library materials. While book banning is unpopular, he said, school districts have been unable to fight conservative-led challenges to books because the costs are too high. 

“What this piece of legislation does is just give us another tool here at the federal level to help protect the fundamental right to read a book in your school, even if your governor disagrees with what the book has to say,” Frost told The Messenger in an exclusive interview.

Challenges to books in recent years have spread across the country, often targeting works dealing with LGBTQ and racial themes as Republicans have used the issue to fire up their base.

More than 40 percent of book bans in K-12 schools during the 2022-2023 school year occurred in school districts in Florida, which had the highest number of book bans and largest number of school districts (33) removing books compared to any other state, according to a report by Pen America, a literary and free expression organization that is endorsing Frost’s bill. 

The issue became a focal point of a Fox News “red vs blue state” debate on Thursday between DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who charged that DeSantis is on a “banning binge” and “using education as a sword for your cultural purge."

DeSantis showed viewers pages from the graphic novel, "Gender Queer: A Memoir," with cartoon images depicting oral sex that he had blacked out. “This should not be in schools,” he said. “When people on the left say that somehow you are ‘banning books’ by removing this from a young kid's classroom — No, this is not age-appropriate."

Frost told The Messenger that DeSantis omits that the books are removed from shelves in Florida while they’re being challenged. Also, anyone can challenge a book – not just parents.

“What he’s trying to do is erase Latino culture, immigrant culture, LGBTQ-plus communities, black communities, and kind of mask it under this guise of parental rights,” he said. “It has nothing to do with giving our parents more rights and more say in their kids’ education and everything to do with giving tools to a vocal minority to have the ability to change education for everybody else.”

Asked to respond to Frost’s comments, a DeSantis spokesperson wrote in an email, “This is a hoax,” and linked to DeSantis’ news conference exposing “media hoaxes” on the topic. The video opens with descriptions of books found at schools with sexual images.

Pen America challenged DeSantis’ debate statement that book bans are a “false narrative," pointing to the state’s own list counting 300 removals of books in 20 districts last school year. They noted that district administrators have been ordered to review and remove books to comply with new Florida laws that they are citing as explanations for their book removals.

Book bans happen at the school district level, but are influenced by state legislation or pressure from advocacy groups, said Kasey Meehan, Pen America’s Freedom to Read program director.

The costs to school districts associated with book challenges is huge, she said. Frost’s bill is designed to account for expenses incurred for hearings, legal representation and expert research and advice. Funds for the program would be capped at $15 million over five years.

“While this legislation was designed with the Florida context top of mind, if passed into law it would provide financial support for districts across the country financially burdened by the coordinated movement to ban certain types of books from public schools,” she said. 

Polls show that book bans are generally unpopular with voters across party lines, and Democrats have worked to flip the script on the issue to paint Republicans as out of touch with most Americans. This year, Illinois passed legislation to outlaw book banning, and President Joe Biden highlighted the issue in his reelection campaign launch video.

Frost’s bill is unlikely to advance in a GOP-led House. But he said there could be a path for winning at least some Republican support.

“People hate their freedoms and liberties being taken away from them,” he said.