Minnesota School District Settles Lawsuits, Agrees to Return Banned Books to School Library Shelves

In a move being applauded by freedom to read advocates, a Minnesota school district has agreed to return dozens of banned books to the school’s shelves to settle two lawsuits filed in March by a coalition students and advocacy groups.

In the suits, the students, supported by ACLU of Minnesota and public education advocacy group and teachers union Education Minnesota had challenged a new policy at the St. Francis Area School district that required book selections to align with reviews hosted by Book Looks, the recently shuttered conservative book rating site with ties to right wing activist group Moms for Liberty.

In its initial complaint, Education Minnesota argued that the district’s new materials policy, which was enacted in November 2024, had led to the removal of books in violation of the constitutional rights of students, and in violation of a newly enacted 2024 Minnesota state law that prohibits libraries and schools from banning books based on “the messages, ideas, or opinions” the book conveys.

But weeks into the litigation, a mediation session led to a settlement, which the school board swiftly accepted this week.

According to a release from Education Minnesota, the terms of the settlement include: 

• The district will replace the booklooks.org policy with a policy that guarantees the input of the parents and qualified media specialists and follows state law. 
• The review committee for challenged books can only remove a book with a supermajority vote.  
• The school board can only overrule the review committee and remove a book after publishing a report of its findings and then acting in a public meeting. 
• District staff will return all the books removed under the previous policy to media centers and classroom libraries. 
• The new book review policy must remain in place for at least three years. 
• The district will pay the mediator. 

In return, the plaintiffs have agreed to drop the litigation and will not seek financial damages. 

“We achieved this settlement because parents, students, our community and even Minnesota authors stood with educators to defend the freedom to read in public schools,” Education Minnesota-St. Francis President Ryan Fiereck said in a statement. “This is progress, but not the end. It is on us, as voters, to ensure school boards and other elected leaders support public schools in ways that foster creativity, exploration, learning from our history, and critical thinking. These are the pillars of public education, and they are under attack.” 

A 'Vital Victory'

The legal drama began last fall when, amid a politically organized nationwide surge in book bans, the St. Francis district’s school board voted to replace its book selection policy, which had previously vested librarians and media specialists with the authority to make book selections, with a policy that tied selection to ratings on Book Looks. Under the new policy, which was reportedly adopted over the objections of the district superintendent and attorney, any book rated "3" or above on Book Looks scale of 1-5, would barred from selection or removed. Books rated "3" were deemed by BookLooks to be appropriate with parental guidance only. 

Furthermore, because district’s new policy “declared the Book Looks rating system dispositive for book selection,” the complaint stated, educators and librarians had no avenue for appeal when a book was barred or removed.

“Among concerns that can contribute to a book's high score are things like ‘racial commentary,’ ‘controversial social and racial commentary,’ ‘alternate gender ideologies,’ and ‘inflammatory racial commentary,” the complaint noted, citing a number of titles removed since the policy’s implementation, including Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handsmaid’s Tale, among many others.

Notably, Book Looks suddenly announced it was shutting down early in March.

“It has been quite the ride with many ups and downs since God called us to this work in 2022," reads a statement on the Book Looks site. "But after much prayer and reflection it has become apparent that His work for us here is complete and that He has other callings for us.”

In a statement, PEN America praised the settlement “a vital victory” for the freedom to read.

“The community members who have fought back against book censorship in St. Francis have set an inspiring and admirable example,” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director for U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America said.

“Our schools rely on trained professionals to make determinations about the books available in their libraries for a reason: because they value librarians’ expertise, they value library collections that are educationally relevant to students, they value diverse stories, and they value intellectual freedom,” Friedman added. “Rather than serve the cause of censorship, we applaud the district’s choice to now properly serve its students and families. In St. Francis and across the country, our communities are best served by schools that fully support the freedom to read.”