Diaz responds to judge tossing teachers union lawsuit: ‘major win for parents’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr responded after a judge threw out a challenge by the Florida Education Association teachers union over rules relating to what books are available in classrooms.
The Florida Education Association, Florida Freedom to Read Project, and Families for Strong Public Schools filed a challenge against the state Department of Education in March.
Diaz called the ruling a “major win for Florida parents and classroom transparency.”
“Read it and weep! It’s sad to see the Florida teachers’ union waste their members’ hard-earned money on a frivolous lawsuit to block parents from knowing what their children are reading in classrooms. Today’s ruling is a major win for Florida parents and classroom transparency!” Diaz said.
The groups claimed the rules “substantially harm hundreds of thousands of teachers librarians, students, and families by upending Florida’s public education system.”
They argued that “through new restrictions and requirements imposed through an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority, the rules exceed the statutory grant of authority and change the effect of the law by adopting an unprecedented and illogical definition of ‘library media center’ that should be struck down.”
In Judge Darren Shwartz’s opinion, he said the department’s definition of the phrase “library media center” is “consistent with CS/HB 1467 and the department’s grant of rulemaking authority.”
The judge said that authority includes the ability to clarify and define terminology related to its statutory mandate to “keep inappropriate materials out of the hands of children.”
“It makes no sense that the Legislature would enact a law to keep age-inappropriate and harmful books out of the hands of students in central libraries, only to allow such books to be available to students down the hall in classrooms where such books may be even more available to children,” the judge said.
Florida Freedom to Read Project responded to Diaz’s comment on Twitter.
“The irony of saying today’s ruling in the classroom library suit was a “win” for parents after the FLDOE successfully removed two parent-led organizations from the suit saying we did NOT have standing in the case because the rules did not directly impact us is not lost on us,” the group wrote.
The irony of saying today’s ruling in the classroom library suit was a “win” for parents after the FLDOE successfully removed two parent-led organizations from the suit saying we did NOT have standing in the case because the rules did not directly impact us is not lost on us. pic.twitter.com/5hZ0jbp2jH
— Florida Freedom to Read Project (@FLFreedomRead) July 7, 2023
Florida lawmakers passed HB 1467 in mid-2022, which required media specialists go through approved training to brush up on Florida law before approving books for classrooms and libraries.
The training materials highlight Florida laws, including one where it is a third-degree felony for “any adult” to distribute pornographic materials to minors.
