Moments ago, the Senate passed House Bill 314, the School and Library Protection Act. We are nearing the culmination of a long fight to protect children from graphic and obscene materials in schools and libraries.

Idaho Freedom Foundation has been exposing obscene materials in Idaho libraries for years. In 2021, we warned the public and lawmakers about a woke non-profit coordinating with the Idaho Commission for Libraries to disseminate books to toddlers about gender identity and sexual orientation.

In 2022, we demonstrated how direct cash grants from Washington were being used to circumvent local control of libraries. We exposed how libraries were stocking their shelves with graphic children’s books promoting, among other things, kinky sex, sexual deviancy, and early sex among children. 

In 2023, we brought national attention to how Idaho public school libraries have become facilitators for a far-left agenda that warps both sex and gender through exposure to pornographic material as well as noxious propaganda. We showed how a system of reviewers, stakeholders, federal agencies, and public employees facilitates the provision of inappropriate books for minors in our public schools and libraries.

We called on lawmakers to close the loophole in state law for obscenity within institutions that exist for educational purposes, such as public schools.

Lawmakers listened and took action. 

Today, the passage of the "Children’s School and Library Protection Act" is a huge victory for children and families. 

The law will prohibit school employees from making harmful material available to minors. It would allow minors who obtained harmful materials in violation of the law — or their parents or legal guardians — to bring a civil lawsuit if school or library personnel distributed the materials or if the school or library “failed to take reasonable steps to restrict access to material harmful to minors.”

But we aren’t done yet. Interest groups and librarians across the state and country have been fighting tooth and nail to protect the education establishment and allow public schools and libraries to continue promoting and distributing this obscene, pornographic material to children. Governor Little still needs to sign House Bill 314 to protect children from harmful materials and stop this unmitigated disaster in our beloved state.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation and the Center for American Education will continue to expose what is going on in our school system so parents can make the best decisions for their families. Check out our K-12 LEAD Map to find out if your local school district is spending more time teaching social justice rather than academics.