Hillsborough ranks first in Florida for high number of books banned, district pushes back

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Public Schools is disputing a new national report that claims the district has pulled more books from school libraries than any other in Florida, saying the true number of removed titles is far lower.

The backstory:

The nonprofit PEN America, which advocates for free expression, released its latest Index of School Book Bans for the 2024–2025 school year. It documents more than 6,700 book removals nationwide, with Florida leading the country. Hillsborough County ranked second in the U.S., with 608 titles reportedly removed.

But Hillsborough officials argue that figure doesn’t accurately reflect what’s happened in the district.

According to district spokesperson Tanya Arja, 59 books have been formally removed from library collections.

The higher number, she said, includes titles that were temporarily pulled for a state-mandated review process, many of which remain under evaluation and have not been permanently banned.

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What they're saying:

"As required by Florida law, the titles on the [Florida Department of Education] lists must be reviewed each year by all school districts," Arja said. "To ensure system-wide compliance and consistency in Hillsborough County, titles on the FLDOE 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 state lists were placed under review."

Arja also noted that most of the review process occurred during the summer, when students were not in school. She added that PEN’s report does not distinguish between books temporarily pulled for review and those that have been officially removed.

Still, free-expression advocates say even temporary removals can have lasting consequences.

"Whether it’s a temporary removal or a permanent removal, there is still harm that occurs," said Stephana Ferrell with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, which helped supply data for PEN’s report. "It can take a long time for that review process to happen."

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What's driving the removals?

The spike in book reviews in Hillsborough came after Florida education leaders warned the district to improve its vetting of materials with "inappropriate content," especially content with sexual themes. In response, Superintendent Van Ayres ordered a district-wide review of every book flagged by the state.

While the district says this was an effort to comply with the law, some school board members have concerns.

"I do worry that many of our librarians, in an environment of fear and chaos, kind of just knee-jerk reaction, remove those books to avoid any further concern from the state," said Jessica Vaughn, Chair of the Hillsborough County School Board.

Others, however, argue the district hasn’t gone far enough.

"The amount of sexual content in our school library books is crazy," said Julie Gebhards, a Hillsborough parent and member of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group behind some of the state’s book challenges. "If it describes in detail a sex act, it shouldn’t be in schools. You can get it somewhere else if you want to teach your kids about that, but it shouldn’t be available to everyone’s children in public schools on taxpayer dollars."

According to Arja, school media specialists are required to review their library collections annually. Books may be removed for reasons including poor physical condition, outdated content, low circulation, or lack of alignment with Florida academic standards. Formal challenges can also trigger a review.

She added that most of the books reviewed in Hillsborough were not formally challenged by parents or community members; the district initiated the review itself after state officials raised concerns.

Many of the 600+ titles flagged in the report are still under review and may return to shelves, though some officials worry they won’t.

"There are books on that list that may not have been taken out of every single one of our schools," Vaughn said. "But I’m concerned some may never come back."

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