Utah lawmakers criticize Davis District's process of removing Bible in some schools

Estimated read time: 8-9 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Following the removal of the Bible from all elementary and junior high schools in the Davis School District last month, several Utah lawmakers sharply criticized the process Monday and the grounds under which the book was removed.

Members of the Administrative Rules Review and General Oversight Committee heard a presentation from the district about how it determines which books will or will not be retained in school libraries.

Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, who said he comes from a Judeo-Christian background, said he's "not surprised at all" that religious texts are being challenged in schools. He said he got his first hint of how HB374 — which lawmakers have described as a way to weed out content found to be pornographic from K-12 libraries and classrooms — might unfold during the 2022 legislative session.

"I had members of advocates of a particular, you know, viewpoint that came and were expressing concern with the bill, how it would be implemented," Anderegg said. "So I had one of these advocates say, 'Well, we'll then take, you know, every religious book, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, whatever and we'll challenge it and blah, blah, blah."

The committee that reviewed the Bible for the district explained that the "book does not contain sensitive material as defined in Utah Code," so it chose to retain the version in high schools but remove it from all elementary and junior high schools based on "vulgarity and violence" that may not be age-appropriate.

Review committees for the district are made up of an odd number of people and each committee includes a facilitator selected by the district's teaching and learning director, at least one administrator working in a district department or school, a licensed teacher who is teaching English language arts or another relevant subject in a district school, a librarian who works in a district school and a minimum of four parents with students enrolled in a district school, according to district policy.

"If the committee determines that the work contains sensitive materials, it's removed in all schools," Logan Toone, the district's assistant superintendent, told the lawmakers. "If the committee determines that the work does not include sensitive materials, then they determine age-appropriateness."

Liz Mumford, Davis School District board president, emphasized that review committees face great challenges, as each member brings their own unique background, perspective and experience to the committee.

Toone added that the district's determination for age-level appropriateness is patterned after the language in the Utah State Board of Education's model policy that outlines the process for identifying materials that should be removed from schools.

Utah Parents United, a conservative parent rights group that lobbied strongly for the passage of HB374 — along with the Utah Legislature — was named in the initial request to review the Bible.

"I thank the Utah Legislature and Utah Parents United for making this bad faith process so much easier and way more efficient. Now we can all ban books and you don't even need to read them or be accurate about it. Heck, you don't even need to see the book! Ceding our children's education, First Amendment rights and library access to a ... hate group like Utah Parents United seems like a wonderful idea for a school district literally under investigation for being racist," the person wrote in the book review request.

The identity of the person who requested a review of the Bible was redacted in a copy of the challenge provided to KSL.com by Davis School District officials.

"Utah Parents United left off one of the most sex-ridden books around: the Bible," the person wrote, noting that the Bible includes mentions of incest, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation and rape, among other things.

The individual also included an eight-page document of specific Bible verses to substantiate their claim that the Bible includes many examples of the sensitive materials that have led to the removal of other books.

"You'll no doubt find that the Bible, under Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227, has 'no serious values for minors' because it's pornographic by our new definition. Get this porn out of our schools! If the books that have been banned so far are any indication for way lesser offenses, this should be a slam dunk," the person wrote.

"I find banning the Bible reprehensible. Likewise, I find pornography ... not banning that reprehensible," Anderegg said, adding that he doesn't blame the district for finding itself in this position, as he saw signs the law could be headed this way.

House Assistant Minority Whip Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, said the context of the Bible is important when analyzing it for inappropriate content.

"We have to look at the serious cultural and literary value of this," Dailey-Provost said. "And that may need to supersede some of our sensibilities (and) sensitivities of what we might interpret of the words that are on the pages of the book, taken out of context."

Utah Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, who serves as the committee chairman, took a heavier-handed approach to his criticisms of the district policy.

"Are you telling me that the Davis board, that you can't define the difference between that which is depicted in the Bible and that which is depicted in hardcore porn?" Bramble asked. "Adults can tell the difference between religious texts like the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, even though they depict either historic or evidence of various acts, relative to pornography that which is sexually explicit."

Mumford responded, saying the issue of the Bible hasn't yet come to the board for a vote.

"I can't speak for that committee because I was not in that room with seven people who had to make a challenging decision. They were working off the language that's in the law," Mumford said. "If it was a simple decision, it wouldn't still be up for debate across our country at the highest levels of the court."

Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, followed Bramble in criticizing the district's policy, saying the standards set by the districts either don't work or aren't being followed.

"We'll help you clarify them, but frankly, this is embarrassing. It's embarrassing for the state and it's embarrassing for the Davis School District," Brammer said.

While the main contention of the lawmakers appeared to be that the Bible was being equated with hardcore pornography, the district reiterated that the committee's decision to remove the Bible from elementary and junior high libraries was based on "vulgarity and violence."

We've identified that we want to have these decisions happen at the local level so that they're reflective of those communities. So let's let the Bible piece play out because ... the appeals window will close and the board will address it. And we're not reluctant to do that and we'll do it based on our accountability to the public that we represent.

– Liz Mumford, Davis School District board president

In lieu of the initial ruling, an appeal has since been filed, asking for the district to retain the Bible in all district schools, meaning the religious book will again be reviewed by a committee.

"The most compelling thing for me is that the process — in the case of the Bible — is incomplete. We're in the middle of that process with many, many appeals, as it should be," said Davis School District Superintendent Dan Linford. "When there are points of controversy and something is appealed, it should go to the board. It should go to an elected body."

The appeals committee is a subcommittee of the board made up of three board members, all appointed by the board president. The decision of the appeals committee is then presented to the full board (made up of seven members) for approval by a majority vote.

Additionally, district officials said they wanted the discussion to focus on how they or the State Board of Education could add components to the law or clarify certain aspects of the law so that they can "support our communities in making the right decisions."

Toward the end of the meeting, the interim committee voted unanimously to open a bill file looking into how HB374 or the State Board of Education's model policy could be reworked or clarified.

After HB374 was passed, multiple school district representatives told lawmakers that the implementation of the law was alienating teachers and exhausting resources.

In November 2022, then-Alpine School District Board Oresident Mark Clement said that since the passage of the bill, someone reported that pornography was being distributed to students at a district school, which led to police arriving at the school's library, "which has scared our librarians and made them less effective."

"I hope you realize there's also been a large negative in terms of teachers feeling that they are not trusted or that they are being labeled as pushing pornography, when really what they're trying to do is help children learn," Clement said.

All of the representatives from the Davis School District reinforced that the challenge is not yet complete and nothing has been set in stone.

"We've identified that we want to have these decisions happen at the local level so that they're reflective of those communities," Mumford said. "So let's let the Bible piece play out because ... the appeals window will close and the board will address it. And we're not reluctant to do that and we'll do it based on our accountability to the public that we represent."