Public schools across the country pulled books from shelves at a record pace in the 2025-26 school year, but Maryland recorded just one ban, Public News Service reported Oct. 15. The news service credited a 2024 state law that sets ground rules for every school system in Maryland, including those in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.
PEN America, a free expression organization, counted 11,982 instances of books banned in public schools during the school year, the most since it began tracking in 2021, according to Texas Public Radio’s coverage of the report. The bans covered 7,370 unique titles. Texas led with more than 8,100 instances, followed by Florida with more than 3,200.
Fiction made up more than 80% of the banned titles, with young adult fiction the most common target. Books dealing with race, LGBTQ+ characters and sex were removed far more often than others, Public News Service reported.
What Maryland’s law requires
Maryland lawmakers passed the Freedom to Read Act in 2024 as book challenges rose nationally. Under the law, House Bill 785, school library materials may not be excluded solely because of the author’s origin, background or views, and may not be removed because of partisan, ideological or religious disapproval.
Each local school system, including Calvert County Public Schools, Charles County Public Schools and St. Mary’s County Public Schools, must have a policy for handling objections to library books, according to the state’s fiscal and policy note on the bill. The process must be uniform and open to students, parents of enrolled students and school staff, and it must follow a reasonable timeline.
Two provisions matter most for families. A challenged book must stay available to students while it is under review. And a county school board may not fire, demote, discipline, transfer or otherwise retaliate against a librarian or library media specialist for doing work consistent with the law’s standards.
Both sides of the debate
Paul Jaeger, a professor at the University of Maryland College of Information, told Public News Service that social media and other technology have made it easier for people to organize around challenging books. He said residents who oppose removals can show support at city council and library board meetings and back the librarians and teachers handling challenges, calling that “a really good start.”
Supporters of removals argue some materials are not age-appropriate and that parents have the right to decide what their children read, according to the report. Some also contend libraries and their staff push a liberal agenda on students.
The fight could shift to Washington. Public News Service reported that a bill in Congress, the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, would withhold federal education funds from public schools unless certain books are removed. State laws like Maryland’s govern how local boards handle challenges, but federal funding conditions could add new pressure on districts.
Parents and residents who want to see how their district handles a challenge can find the reconsideration policy in each Southern Maryland school board’s policy manual, or ask their school’s library media specialist.
