HB 860 — An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, in terms and courses of study, providing for prohibited review of curriculum, instructional materials and voluntary inquiry material in public school entities.

PRINTER'S NO.   898

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 860
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY FRIEL, PIELLI, PROBST, MADDEN, WAXMAN, KHAN,
        KENYATTA, OTTEN, SANCHEZ, GUENST, BURGOS, HOWARD, RIVERA,
        DONAHUE, WARREN, SHUSTERMAN, CERRATO, MALAGARI AND STEELE,
        MARCH 11, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MARCH 11, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
 2      act relating to the public school system, including certain
 3      provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
 4      schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
 5      laws relating thereto," in terms and courses of study,
 6      providing for prohibited review of curriculum, instructional
 7      materials and voluntary inquiry material in public school
 8      entities.
 9      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10   hereby enacts as follows:
11      Section 1.    Article XV of the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30,
12   No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by
13   adding a subarticle to read:
14         (e)    Prohibited Review of Curriculum, Instructional
15          Materials and Voluntary Inquiry Material in Public
16                             School Entities.
17   Section 1561.    Findings and declaration of policy.
18      The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
19          (1)   The sharing of all ideas and the freedom to read are
20      essential for a strong democracy.
 1          (2)   Suppressing the freedom to read and denying access
 2      to literature, history and knowledge are antidemocratic
 3      approaches that have only been employed by regimes seeking to
 4      limit free speech and debate.
 5          (3)   The unreasonable restriction of access to books and
 6      instructional materials in schools violates students' freedom
 7      to learn and impairs their ability to think independently and
 8      is contrary to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
 9      United States.
10          (4)   Students have a right to access a diverse range of
11      age-relevant information, stories, perspectives and ideas.
12          (5)   PEN America identified 457 books that were
13      challenged or banned in this Commonwealth from July 2021 to
14      July 2022.
15          (6)   The Supreme Court has held that, as centers for
16      voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information and
17      ideas, school libraries enjoy a special affinity with the
18      rights of free speech and press.
19          (7)   In Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free
20      School District No. 26 v. Pico, the court noted that removal
21      of books is constitutionally permitted only if it is done
22      based on the educational appropriateness of the book, not
23      because it was intended to deny students access to books with
24      which school officials disagree.
25   Section 1562.   Definitions.
26      The following words and phrases when used in this subarticle
27   shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
28   context clearly indicates otherwise:
29      "Committee."   An educational resource material review
30   committee established under section 1567.

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 1      "Department."    The Department of Education of the
 2   Commonwealth.
 3      "Instructional expert."    A public school administrator,
 4   instructional staff or school librarian with expert knowledge in
 5   the subject areas in which they hold a certification.
 6      "Instructional material."    A textbook and supplementary
 7   material used as a part of required classroom instruction.
 8      "Parent or guardian."    A biological parent, adoptive parent,
 9   legal guardian or other person with legal custody of a child.
10      "Public school entity."    A public school, including a school
11   district, charter school, intermediate unit or area career and
12   technical school.
13      "Qualifying complainant."    A student or a parent or guardian
14   of a student enrolled in the public school entity where a
15   complaint is filed.
16      "Qualifying complaint."    A complaint concerning an
17   instructional material's literary or educational merit.
18      "Soft censorship."   The removal of instructional materials
19   and voluntary inquiry materials outside of established
20   processes.
21      "Voluntary inquiry material."       A nonfiction or fiction book,
22   magazine, reference book, supplementary title, multimedia and
23   digital material, software and instructional material and other
24   material not required as part of classroom instruction.
25      "Weeding."   The process of clearing the collections in the
26   library or media center of materials that have outlived their
27   usefulness.
28   Section 1563.   Prohibited censorship.
29      (a)   Removal.--Voluntary inquiry materials of sound factual
30   authority shall not be removed from library shelves or

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 1   classrooms due to any of the following reasons:
 2            (1)   Partisan approval or disapproval.
 3            (2)   The author's race, nationality, gender identity,
 4      sexual orientation or political or religious views.
 5            (3)   School board of directors' or complainants'
 6      discomfort, personal morality or political or religious
 7      views.
 8            (4)   The author's points of view concerning the problems
 9      and issues of our time, whether international, national or
10      local.
11            (5)   The race, nationality, gender identity, sexual
12      orientation or political or religious views of the
13      protagonist or other characters.
14            (6)   Content that is relevant to the research,
15      independent reading interests and educational needs of older
16      students based on their age, development or grade level.
17            (7)   Content related to sexual health that addresses
18      physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions of human
19      sexuality, including puberty, sex and relationships.
20      (b)   Soft censorship prohibition.--Instructional materials
21   and voluntary inquiry materials shall not be removed from
22   circulation of a public school entity except in accordance with
23   the process outlined in section 1568. The following apply:
24            (1)   Each public school entity and the department shall
25      furnish on their publicly accessible Internet websites a
26      censorship complaint form where qualifying complainants can
27      report experiences of materials removed or hidden without
28      abiding by the formal process outlined in this subarticle.
29            (2)   The Secretary of Education or a designee shall
30      investigate reports of soft censorship.

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 1   Section 1564.    Curriculum review by parents and students.
 2      Public school entities shall adopt policies to ensure that
 3   parents or guardians have the following:
 4            (1)   Access to information about the curriculum,
 5      including academic standards to be achieved, instructional
 6      materials and assessment techniques.
 7            (2)   A process for the review of instructional materials.
 8            (3)   The right to have their children excused from
 9      specific instruction that conflicts with their beliefs, upon
10      receipt by the public school entity of a written request from
11      the parents or guardians.
12   Section 1565.    Qualifying complaints on instructional materials.
13      (a)   Written request.--A qualifying complainant shall remit a
14   written request to the school principal, teacher, certified
15   school librarian or relevant staff member regarding an
16   instructional material. A separate request must be submitted for
17   each instructional material.
18      (b)   Assistance.--The teacher or staff member may offer to
19   assist the parent or guardian or student to find an alternative
20   to the instructional materials that would better meet the needs
21   and interests of the parent or guardian or student.
22      (c)   Removal.--Materials shall not be removed or restricted
23   from use by other students as a result of individual qualifying
24   complaints.
25   Section 1566.    Powers.
26      The responsibility for selection, purchase and weeding of
27   voluntary inquiry materials shall be delegated by the board of
28   school directors to the instructional experts employed by the
29   school entity.
30   Section 1567.    Qualifying complaints on voluntary inquiry

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 1                  materials.
 2      (a)   Removal.--A board of school directors or administrators
 3   of a public school entity may not remove voluntary inquiry
 4   materials that have been challenged outside the process outlined
 5   in section 1568.
 6      (b)   Establishment.--Each intermediate unit shall establish
 7   an educational resource material review committee. The selection
 8   of the committee shall be the responsibility of the
 9   superintendent advisory council of the intermediate unit.
10      (c)   Membership.--A committee shall minimally consist of the
11   following individuals associated with the intermediate unit:
12            (1)   Principal.
13            (2)   Director of curriculum or similar position.
14            (3)   Certified school librarian from the public school
15      entity or other school entity if the entity has no certified
16      school librarian.
17            (4)   The superintendent or a designee of the
18      superintendent.
19            (5)   Faculty members from an elementary, middle and high
20      school located within the intermediate unit.
21            (6)   Special education director.
22      (d)   Selection.--Members must be selected from multiple
23   school districts with no more than two members from a single
24   school district.
25   Section 1568.     Process.
26      If a qualifying complaint cannot be resolved informally
27   without removing the voluntary inquiry material from
28   circulation, the following guidelines shall be followed:
29            (1)   A school may handle a book challenge at the local
30      level with the school's own preferred process, reviewing and

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 1    removing books for reasons of educational and age
 2    appropriateness, not to conflict with section 1563.
 3        (2)   The principal or designee shall furnish the
 4    qualifying complainant with a district form for
 5    reconsideration of materials. The form shall require a
 6    qualifying complainant to explain the objection to the
 7    material's literary, educational value or age appropriateness
 8    and include an attestation that the qualifying complainant
 9    has read the voluntary inquiry material in its entirety. The
10    qualifying complainant shall file the objection with the
11    committee.
12        (3)   A qualifying complainant can submit one complaint at
13    a time. Complaints are limited to 10 complaints per year for
14    each qualifying complainant.
15        (4)   Voluntary inquiry material shall not be removed from
16    the collection until the review process is complete.
17        (5)   The committee shall establish a process and criteria
18    for reconsideration that includes, at a minimum:
19              (i)    Reading and examining the voluntary inquiry
20        material in question and the submitted request for
21        reconsideration.
22              (ii)    Communicating with the individual making the
23        request for reconsideration and clarifying the
24        objections.
25              (iii)    Checking general acceptance of the material by
26        reading authoritative reviews and conducting other
27        research as necessary.
28              (iv)    Evaluating the positive and negative aspects of
29        the voluntary resource material as a whole, not on
30        selected passages read out of context.

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 1              (v)    Preparing a report that includes a
 2        recommendation regarding the request for reconsideration.
 3              (vi)    Preparing a minority report should the
 4        committee fail to reach an agreement.
 5              (vii)    Submitting each report to the superintendent
 6        of the school district in question no later than 60 days
 7        after the reconsideration is filed, unless an exception
 8        is granted by the board of school directors.
 9              (viii)    Functioning as an appeal arbitrator for a
10        dispute between a complainant and a local district's
11        decision. A complainant may appeal a local district's
12        decision if the complainant believes a book should have
13        been removed or believes that the book was removed for
14        inappropriate reasons.
15        (6)   In the event that the committee's findings support
16    removal or restriction based on the age appropriateness of
17    the materials, a copy of the report shall be submitted to the
18    department for the department's evaluation and concurrence.
19    Section 2.      This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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