International Day of Education is meant to affirm a simple truth: every person deserves access to knowledge that is accurate, inclusive, and reflective of our shared humanity. But in Florida, that promise is increasingly out of reach. Instead of expanding educational access, the state has doubled down on censorship, stripping shelves, restricting curriculum, and silencing the educators and librarians who make learning possible.
Florida now leads the nation in book bans, with most removals targeting stories by Black authors, queer and trans writers, and anyone telling histories that challenge sanitized narratives. These bans do not protect children. They erase entire communities from public memory and deny young people the chance to engage critically with the world around them. For thousands of students, especially those in low income or rural counties, school and public libraries are their only access to diverse literature and reliable information. When books disappear, the pathway to understanding themselves, their history, and their future disappears too.
Florida’s censorship crisis also extends beyond books and history. The state has weakened sex education so deeply that many districts no longer provide students with basic information about consent, reproductive health, or LGBTQ+ identities. Teachers are told to avoid topics that are essential for young people’s safety, leaving students without the tools they need to understand their bodies or navigate relationships. These rollbacks do not protect students. They make it harder for them to make informed decisions and more likely to face preventable harm.
Censorship laws also restrict what teachers can say about racism, gender, sexuality, and power, turning classrooms into monitored spaces where truth becomes a liability. Attacks on DEI programs and student resources deepen existing inequities and make it harder for marginalized students to find safety, connection, and support. These policies do not create fairness. They institutionalize exclusion.
International Day of Education reminds us that access is not just about being in a classroom. It is about the freedom to learn honestly, to read stories that reflect both your life and the lives of others, to ask questions without fear, and to engage with history without censorship. Around the world, education is recognized as a route to liberation and collective resilience. Florida’s current direction moves in the opposite direction by using the language of protection to justify erasure.
As we mark this global observance, we also reaffirm a local truth. Liberation requires access to truth. And in Florida, defending education means defending the right to know, to question, and to imagine something better than the narrow future that censorship allows.
FL NOW will host a screening of The Librarians on March 15 at 2 PM to continue this conversation and highlight the people organizing against censorship across the nation.
