Oct. 12—A Philadelphia Democrat is working to reign in the number of book bans occurring at Pennsylvania schools as challenges continue at unprecedented rates.

State Rep. Chris Rabb proposed legislation Tuesday that would establish uniform procedures for school boards to follow before they could eliminate a student's access to a book.

"Book bans are an attempt to censor educators and restrict the information and educational materials that students can have access to in school," Rabb said. "In addition, these effectively unilateral decisions made by school boards are extremely harmful to LGBTQ+ youth and students of color given that the subjects discussed in these so-called 'inappropriate' and 'explicit' books often discuss many serious and real issues impacting these communities."

Under the proposed legislation, if a book is challenged, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the school board must participate in at least two public hearings, which would be moderated by professionals with knowledge on the book. The hearing would be held prior to the school board voting on whether they would ban the book from the library or curriculum.

"This legislation will ensure the voices of the district's teachers, students and community members are adequately heard when making these important decisions," Rabb wrote.

Pennsylvania between July 2021 and June 2022 saw 457 book bans across 11 school districts, making the state third to Texas, which had 801 bans across 22 districts, and Florida, which had 566 bans across 21 districts, PEN America reported in September. In all, there were 2,532 instances of individual books being banned across the country.

Of books being questioned, 41% dealt with LGBTQ+ topics; 40% had protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color; 22% had sexual content; 21% dealt with issues of race and racism; 10% had themes of rights and activism; 9% were biographies, autobiographies or memoirs; and 4% had stories with religious minorities.

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Related:

—Hempfield is latest district to face book ban challenge

—Proposed policy lays out process for book challenges books at Hempfield Area

—Franklin Regional 'unpauses' teaching of honors English novel 'Persepolis'

—Nonprofit calls research into recent U.S. book bans 'shocking' as Franklin Regional parents express support for restrictions, warnings

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Conversations on book policy have taken place at local school districts, including Hempfield Area, where board members are considering changes to a reevaluation policy that looks into challenged materials. Changes would include increasing the number of parents who sit on the committee and adding an appeals process.

The discussions came after two books available to high school students were questioned, including "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson, which chronicles Johnson's journey growing up as a queer Black boy, and "The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person" by Frederick Joseph, which reflects the author's experiences with racism.

It ultimately was determined students could have access to the books.

Franklin Regional in March paused the teaching of Marjane Satrapi's 2004 graphic novel "Persepolis," set during the Iranian Revolution, in a freshman honors class following complaints to the district about its content.

Later that month, however, the district's curriculum committee once again permitted use of the book after members read and reviewed the novel.

Book legislation

Rabb's proposal is not the first piece of legislation presented by a Pennsylvania lawmaker regarding book bans.

Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster County, in March proposed a bill that would require schools to identify and notify parents of sexually explicit content in curriculum, materials and books. It would need to be approved by the full Senate and House before going to Gov. Tom Wolf, who signaled he would veto the bill, PoliticsPA reported.

"Parents, understandably, are outraged," Aument wrote. "And when voicing their concerns to school administrators, many have felt like their concerns were dismissed or trivialized. This is unacceptable. Parents must be confident that their children are receiving a quality education in our schools without being exposed to inappropriate, sexually explicit content."

Rabb, however, said efforts to ban books are unpopular among teachers and students and suggested school boards "continue to run roughshod."

"Students should not be subjected to restrictive and potentially hostile learning environments because the school board of their assigned school districts made decisions about what books they can and can't have access to in the school," Rabb said.

Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan by email at mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .