Florida does not maintain a state-sanctioned book ban list because it is not part of the state’s laws governing school and school library materials. But now, for the second year in a row, Florida’s Commissioner of Education is demanding schools across the state ban more books. The directive, sent to every public school and charter in the state, threatens districts with compliance, lest they see the state Department of Education revoke funding and place more scrutiny on them.

Last summer, the former Commissioner of Education and State Attorney General crafted a list of over 50 titles they believed all schools should remove. Now, they’re pointing to the state’s list of titles banned at all districts statewide in the last year and encouraging schools to remove them proactively. Among the titles on the lists, compiled annually from each district and submitted to the state for public posting, are thousands of books ranging from the graphic novel adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale to Last Night at the Telegraph Club to Angela’s Ashes to books by Rick Riordan and more.

Henry Mack, Florida’s newest Commissioner of Education, sent a seven-page letter to all public school superintendents and charter school leaders on September 23. The letter, which can be read in full here, praises the work being done in Clay, Escambia, and Nassau County schools, where massive numbers of books have been banned. Bans in Clay County have been initiated almost entirely by one individual in the district–and it’s a district that’s questioned having school libraries at all. Both Escambia and Nassau Counties have been hit with lawsuits over their book banning efforts, including an out-of-court settlement in Nassau, which required the district to return titles to shelves.

Mack notes in his letter that the current process for book bans is inefficient, and that it is the responsibility of school leaders to be proactive in the process:

A process that depends on a parent discovering explicit material, reading it in a public meeting, and then forcing a district response is not only severely flawed; it is administrative neglect masquerading as either ignorance or ineptitude. Whatever it may be, it is unacceptable and must end.

Districts must follow Florida law and State Board of Education rules by providing only materials that are age- and developmentally appropriate. Unfortunately, parents continue to find a shocking amount of material that fails that test. Again, that is unacceptable.

Superintendents, library media specialists, and other personnel involved in the selection and maintenance of instructional and library materials must follow the laws and rules associated with this process.

The letter then goes on to outline Florida’s laws regarding schools’ full responsibility for the materials they make available. Mack emphasizes that schools should be proactive assessing all of their materials and pushing them through the review process before a complaint is raised. They should “err on the side of caution” in their assessments.

Where the argument over books available in public schools and public libraries has been around “local control“–that is, each community gets to decide whether or not material violates state law regarding “depictions or descriptions” of sexual content that could be “harmful to minors”–Mack’s letter is a reminder that that line is a lie. “Local control” is state control at the local level. If assessing collections were about local control, then schools wouldn’t be urged by a state politician to review their collections and preemptively review books that appear on the state’s annual reports of books removed from schools.

Mack’s letter calls out several schools that still retain titles in their collections that he finds offensive. Among them are Hillsborough County School’s Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), Kingdom of the Feared, Kingdom of the Wicked, Kingdom of the Cursed, and 1Q84. This same district was singled out last year by the Commissioner of Education, which then led to the school superintendent removing 49 titles without going through their own review process. The excerpts that Mack includes are solely that: excerpts. Like numerous other conservative politicians in Florida, governor included, he believes that books should not need to be reviewed in full before they’re discarded. It is yet another attempt to undermine the federal Miller Test, which assesses whether or not material is “obscene.”

Also included in Mack’s letter is a 90-day plan for districts to begin removing books. It outlines several steps, including following the Department of Education’s own protocols, not accepting any donations, inventorying classroom libraries, and involving parents in the book removal review process. Schools are encouraged to “weed on purpose, not only after a fight”–something that has already led to mass quiet censorship and will now lead to even more compliance in advance (weeding, it should be noted, is not what’s happening when it comes to book bans; it’s a professional collection development activity with specific parameters and procedures, but it makes a convenient means to skirt accountability for censorship). Districts that don’t comply with this letter’s directives, Mack notes, will see disciplinary action, including loss of funding. Principals being named personally responsible for removing books the state doesn’t like will only heighten the fear that districts bow, as well as force more library workers to avoid providing resources that fully represent their students and their needs. The state keeps moving their targets because they’re learning who is–and is not–willing to push back.

What they will provide will be only what the state deems appropriate.

That is, of course, the entire goal. Require public schools to remove books the state doesn’t like, or else lose money the state already doesn’t want to give to public schools. There is no doubt that districts that comply with this massive book removal will still be punished and required to remove even more books at the behest of the state’s GOP.

The governor appoints Florida’s Commissioner of Education. Mack began his tenure in late June of this year, following the leave of former commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, who went to serve on the board of a state college. Kamoutsas’s term as Commissioner lasted less than one year. Mack’s demands are those being passed down from the governor, forcing schools to comply with years-long partisan efforts to remove and erase the voices of queer people and people of color statewide.

As it stands, Florida’s book ban bill being referenced by Mack, House Bill 1069 (HB 1069), is “overbroad and unconstitutional,” per a federal judge’s decision in August 2025. None of the books brought forward in the case were obscene, and the judge made clear that cherry-picking passages without context could not continue. The state appealed the decision, and the case is currently before the 11th Circuit. Of note in the dispute is that in addition to the Florida government’s eagerness to ban books and lie about the intent of the law–as seen through their purposeful decision to highlight passages that were not part of the case as “obscene”–20 other states submitted an Amicus Brief to the 11th signaling their eagerness to begin raiding public school libraries of materials they don’t want available if this case were to play in Florida’s favor. That’s nearly half of the country’s leadership ready and excited to choke access to diverse material and anything that doesn’t align with white supremacy.

This is a developing story, but expect a wave of book bans to crash through Florida schools over the next 90 days. That will be happening, whether or not any of it is documented–and indeed, it’s likely little will be documented because the fear of being seen as complicit with right-wing political demands is as shameful as engaging with it in the first place.