South Carolina introduces new process for banning textbooks statewide | WFAE 90.7

Earlier this week, the South Carolina State Board of Education voted to keep some literary classics like “To Kill A Mockingbird,” “1984” and “Romeo & Juliet” on school library shelves — but banned several other books .

As a result of the decision, four popular books by fantasy author Sarah J. Maas, “Damsel” by Elana Arnold, “Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover and “Normal People” by Sally Rooney, will no longer appear in South Carolina schools.

The revision was the result of a new state ordinance that aims to remove books from schools statewide if they are deemed not age appropriate, or if they contain descriptions of “sexual content.”

Ethan Hutt, an associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education, told WFAE that while states can determine school curriculum, it is unusual for a state, rather than a school district, to take action to restrict or ban specific material.

More often, states try to provide recommendations or guidelines for local governments or districts to make their own decisions.

“We’re usually trying to empower our teachers or empower our local school boards, and what seems out of step with this is it’s the opposite,” Hutt said. “Rather than drawing attention or encouraging them, they simply try to push the options of schools, which is much less consistent with normal violence.”

The state board followed the recommendations of a new instructional materials committee, which reviewed 11 books that had track records of generating debate in multiple districts.

Several states have implemented new laws in recent years that create state-level processes for challenging books Utah, Florida And Idaho.