Funded education agencies would protect students’ library rights

Agencies receiving federal education funds would assure that they protect students’ rights in school libraries. The assurance would apply to each state or local educational agency receiving funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The assurance would cover First Amendment rights, access to varied reading materials, and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and nondiscrimination laws. School boards would retain a role in choosing library materials, but must use that authority in line with First Amendment protections and not to promote partisan or political aims or prescribe particular views.

The Secretary of Education would direct the National Center for Education Statistics to collect school library data and report it to Congress. The data would cover elementary and secondary school libraries, including facilities, staff, collections, devices, and librarians’ work with teachers and students. The Secretary could include other information considered important to support effective school libraries. The text authorizes sums as needed for each fiscal year but does not set a specific amount. Data would be collected every two years. The first report would be due within one year after enactment, with later reports every two years.

Teachers, school librarians, school leaders, paraprofessionals, and other staff would not be liable for harm caused by actions or omissions that follow state or local right-to-read policies. The protection would cover teachers, school librarians, school leaders, paraprofessionals, and other staff. The action or omission must conform to a state or local policy about the right to read.

State and local education agencies would include school library and reading-rights information in plans required under Title I. These plan requirements would apply to state and local education agencies preparing plans under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. State plans would describe efforts to address disproportionate enrollment in schools without effective libraries among low-income students, minority students, students with disabilities, and English learners, and how progress would be measured and publicly reported. Local plans would describe support for effective libraries and certified librarians, student access to those libraries, and policies protecting the right to read.

The text would authorize grants under two literacy programs, including activities that support school libraries and librarians. The specified amounts are $500 million for section 2222 grants and $100 million for section 2226 grants. Congress would still need to provide the money; the authorization itself does not fund the grants. The section 2226 grants could support efforts to increase the number of certified school librarians in high-need schools, but the bill does not designate that program as library grants. The specified amounts are authorized for fiscal year 2026 and each of the succeeding four fiscal years.