By State Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper)
When parents send their children to school, they should not be worried about whether students can access inappropriate material without their permission.
Earlier this year, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1447 to keep materials harmful to children out of school libraries.
This new law requires public and charter schools to create a catalog of materials available in their libraries for the public to review. It does not apply to public libraries located outside of a school building.
These catalogs must be made available both online and in hard copies to parents and guardians.
A parent or guardian of a student enrolled in the school or a community member who resides within the district is now able to submit a request to have materials they feel are harmful to children removed from the school's library.
The school board would then need to review the request at its next public meeting.
State law already prohibited individuals from distributing inappropriate material to minors, but schools have been exempted from this law.
House Enrolled Act 1447 ensures K-12 school libraries are subject to the same standards as private businesses when it comes to concluding if they committed the crime of disseminating material harmful to minors.
Parents have a right to know what their children are reading in school, and this new law does that while increasing transparency in our schools.
As always, feel free to contact my office directly with your questions and concerns by email at Senator.Messmer@iga.in.gov or by phone at 800-382-9467.
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State Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) represents Senate District 48, which
includes Crawford, Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike and Spencer counties.
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