PEN America: Nearly 12,000 Cases of School Book Bans
6th October 2026
Nearly 12,000 instances of book bans were recorded in public schools nationwide during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number recorded in a single year by free expression group PEN America.
Texas accounted for more than 8,100 of the reported bans and Florida more than 3,200, according to a report released Monday. The group attributed much of the increase to new state laws and pressure on school districts to remove books.
Florida had ranked first for the three previous years.
Of course, these are not book ‘bans’, merely exclusion of books with a tendentious political/cultural agenda from schools. People with strong feelings on the subject can get them from Amazon and have them the next day. The unspoken assumption is that government schools ought to be allowed to push any radical notion on their unwitting charges and their clueless parents that they want to, without any accountability.
In a September post on X, the Florida Department of Education wrote: “SEXUALLY EXPLICIT and INAPPROPRIATE content has NO PLACE in Florida schools.
“Florida school districts will be held ACCOUNTABLE for failing to protect our children from this type of content. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
The post included a statement signed by Education Commissioner Henry Mack.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Feel free to send your kids to a Woke private school that can drill them in Marxism until quitting time.