New Florida law expected to increase textbook challenges
By TERRY SPENCER, Associated Press
Nov 26, 2017 8:30 AM CST
This Aug. 24, 2015 photo shows Broward School Board Superintendent Robert Runcie inside a bus in Pembroke Pines, Fla. The Florida Legislature recently changed state law to allow any resident to challenge their school district's textbooks and curricula and get a hearing before an outside mediator. Runcie,...   (Associated Press)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature recently changed state law to allow any resident to challenge their school district's textbooks and curricula and get a hearing before an outside mediator.

To gauge the effect, The Associated Press filed public records requests with Florida's 67 countywide school districts, seeking all 2017 challenges. Seven districts received at least one.

Some challengers think public schools use biased history textbooks, while others believe they push literature that's too sexually explicit.

Some assert global warming and evolution are a hoax and should not be taught. Some say Islam's role in the world gets shortchanged while others argue it's the danger posed by Muslim terrorists that's underexposed. One parent wants to ban a popular novel about book banning.