Within the first two months of 2026, Iowa lawmakers are yet again attacking public school systems and freedom of speech. This legislative session, two new bills seek to expand censorship in classrooms and public libraries and eliminate school access to public libraries entirely.[1]

In May 2023, the legislature passed SF 496, a sweeping education and curriculum bill that instituted a statewide ban on books in K-12 schools that contain any description of a sex act.^[2] By September, schools were pulling books from the shelves and curriculum, including classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank.^[3] The law was challenged by the ACLU, Penguin Random House, Lamda Legal, and others, and after a series of legal battles that reached the 8^th Circuit Court of Appeals, key elements of the statute were enjoined.[4]

Now, Iowa legislators have found new ways to assail literacy and censor schools and libraries. First, House File 2309 imposes criminal and civil liability upon librarians who allow minors to check out “harmful” or “adult” material.[5] Generally, librarians are not required to review or approve what children check out—not only because this is seen as a parental responsibility, but because this surveillance defies the foundational principles of intellectual freedom that govern libraries.[6] This bill is also contrary to existing Iowa law. Regarding minors, the Iowa code on obscenity states, “nothing in this chapter prohibits . . . the use of any materials in any public library.”[7] House File 2309 would be passed as an “exemption” to that statute. 

This attempt to extend censorship to our public libraries is an unconstitutional restriction of freedom of speech and will impact libraries’ abilities to serve youth.[8] The bill is unrealistic to impose, and forces librarians to police the age of and content accessed by each patron. Because the libraries would be required to rearrange their collections and report when a minor attempts to access restricted materials, Iowa Library Association spokesperson Leslie Noble says, “Compliance with this bill may all but be impossible without restricting minors’ access to library collections altogether. This would result in reduced services to families and young people.”[9] This bill handcuffs libraries’ ability to operate efficiently and interferes with the important after-school and intervention services that libraries provide for children.[10]

Librarians could face criminal penalties for failing to surveil a minor’s library loans. Under this law, a first offense is a serious misdemeanor, carrying a sentence of up to one year imprisonment.[11] Instead of giving parents the responsibility of monitoring the content their children consume, the Iowa legislature seeks to expand the reach of government, outsource the responsibility to librarians already working in underfunded institutions, and impose criminal charges upon them for simply doing their jobs.

            It does not stop there. In a further attempt to restrict children from learning, House File 2324 prohibits school districts, charter schools, and innovation schools from entering into contracts with public libraries and hosting mobile libraries at schools.[12] Due to funding cuts, many Iowa schools have reduced their own library programs and partner with public libraries instead. For example, at least five Des Moines Public Schools do not have libraries and instead rely on a partnership with the Des Moines Public Library to ensure students have access to books.[13] As of now, Des Moines Public School students can use their student IDs to check out books from local libraries.[14] But if House File 2324 becomes law, they would no longer be allowed to do so. In short, Iowa Republicans not only want to restrict what books are available to minors at public libraries, they also seek to cut off that access almost entirely. This is a transparent attack on learning and free speech.

            Further, both proposed statutes contravene Iowa students’ First Amendment right to free speech. In Board of Education v. Pico, the United States Supreme Court held that the removal of books based on “politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion” from school libraries was a violation of the students’ First Amendment Rights.[15] Importantly, it reasoned, “just as access to ideas makes it possible for citizens generally to exercise their rights of free speech and press in a meaningful manner, such access prepares students for active and effective participation in the pluralistic, often contentious society in which they will soon be adult members.”[16] Iowa legislators are attempting to do the very same thing by censoring access to information and infringing minors’ rights to learn and explore new ideas.

If students must be prevented from reading 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Farenheit 451 at all costs, perhaps lawmakers are afraid that children will discover just how paternalistic, unconstitutional, and censorial their policies really are. 
 

Iowans: to contact your legislators and urge them to oppose House Files 2309 and 2324, you can find and reach them at: https://www.iowa.gov/how-do-i-contact-state-legislators.