Education

Mack to Superintendents: Audit Your School Libraries

Florida’s education commissioner issued a sharply worded memo on Sept. 23 that puts every district on notice. Escambia County is named in it.

“Administrative Neglect”

Florida Education Commissioner Henry Mack has told school superintendents that waiting for a parent to find an explicit book is “administrative neglect.” In a Sept. 23 memorandum to district superintendents and charter school leaders, Mack warned that the Department of Education will use its full enforcement authority against districts that fail to police their own library and classroom collections. Read Memo.

A process that depends on a parent discovering explicit material, reading it in a public meeting, and then forcing a district response is “administrative neglect masquerading as either ignorance or ineptitude.”

Escambia is mentioned by name. Mack wrote that Clay, Escambia and Nassau counties “have already removed or discontinued substantial numbers of titles following review,” and he used them as examples while criticizing districts that delay.

What Mack Is Threatening

The enforcement path. Mack cited s. 1008.32, Florida Statutes, which lets the commissioner investigate noncompliance and determine probable cause. From there, the memo lays out the steps:

• Mack reports a probable cause finding to the State Board of Education
• The board can order corrective action if a district cannot document compliance
• If a district is found “unwilling or unable” to comply, the State Board can withhold state funds, discretionary grants and discretionary lottery funds
• Districts can be declared ineligible for competitive grants and put on periodic reporting
• Mack says he will recommend restrictions on buying new library materials until a district proves its collection complies

Rule changes are coming. Mack also directed Department staff to draft State Board rule changes that would require districts to audit school library materials, report the results and verify compliance.

The 90-Day Plan

The memo closes with a recommended 90-day plan for superintendents. Among its key points:

• No new purchases: No new library or classroom-library purchases until a certified media specialist certifies each title against ss. 1006.40 and 847.012 and the Department’s training
• Layered audit: Compare every campus catalog to the Department’s published list of removed titles, then review frequently challenged authors, then elementary, middle and high schools in that order
• The “public meeting” test: If an adult selector would not be comfortable reading a passage at a public meeting, lean toward keeping it out of a school library
• Parent panel: A Library Materials Integrity Panel with a written charge to apply Florida law “not PEN America or ALA talking points,” and not “a parent activist checklist” either
• Back doors closed: Freeze donations and book fair leftovers, inventory classroom libraries and set a 30-day clock on any title “under review”
• Principal sign-off: Mid-year certifications from principals, so superintendents cannot claim they didn’t know
• Board briefing: Brief the board before “the next parent does”

The bottom line: The memo makes one thing plain. Superintendents who ignore it will be answering to Tallahassee, not just to parents.

The memo says appearing on the Department list “does not, by itself, establish a statewide prohibition,” but a match  requires “a mandatory local review.” Mack calls it a review, not a removal.

• Escambia’s 2025 directive skips the review and removes titles with no local challenge automatically. The district is going beyond what the commissioner’s own memo directs.