Biden announces new Department of Education position to combat 'book bans'
The Biden administration will create a new position at the Department of Education to combat what it said was an increase in book bans in public schools across the country.
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The Biden administration will create a new position at the Department of Education to combat what it said was an increase in book bans in public schools across the country.
The administration did not announce this week who would be named to the newly created position, which will be contained within the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and will be tasked with educating school districts about potential violations of federal law if certain books are removed from school libraries.
"Across the country, our nation faces a spike in book bans — efforts that disproportionately strip books about LGBTQI+ communities, communities of color, and other communities off of library and classroom shelves," the White House said in a Thursday press release. "In fact, 2022 saw the highest number of book bans in 20 years. Book banning erodes our democracy, removes vital resources for student learning, and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQI+ people and other communities face."
White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden touted the new position as part of a number of new actions the White House is taking during Pride Month to support the gay and transgender community.
"The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will appoint a new coordinator to lead the charge on book banning, and to offer trainings and resources to schools to help them understand that students have a right to learn free from discrimination, and that book bans may violate federal civil rights laws if they create a hostile environment for students," Tanden said.
The Biden administration, Democratic politicians, and liberal pundits have expressed increasing alarm over the removal of certain books from public school libraries, primarily in Republican-controlled states.
The new appointment offers Biden another opportunity to contrast himself with his potential Republican rivals as his re-election campaign kicks into gear. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who recently launched a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, has drawn criticism for enacting legislation that has prompted a number of school districts in the state to remove books with sexual and racial themes from school libraries.
Florida, as a result, has become an epicenter of the purported book bans. The DeSantis administration has repeatedly pushed back against such characterizations, noting that most books that were reviewed were subsequently put back on shelves, and the ones that were permanently removed usually contained pornographic imagery or sexually explicit language, such as the graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, which is a commonly challenged book in school libraries.
