Take the Pledge: Defend Every Student’s Right to Learn

Defend Every Student's Right to Learn

In classrooms and educational spaces across our country, a coordinated attack on our students’ right to learn is underway. Join our pledge now and we'll send you our Right to Learn toolkit to take action and fight back against censorship in your schools and communities.

Since January 2021, 18 states have passed classroom censorship laws that restrict discussions about race, gender, and sexual orientation in schools.

If schools are found in violation of classroom censorship laws or restrictions, many may risk losing funding. In some cases, teachers could face formal admonishment or lose teaching licenses if they don’t comply with curriculum restrictions. The ACLU has successfully challenged classroom laws in Florida, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma.

At the same time, politicians and school boards are making moves to ban books from public schools and libraries. From July to December of 2023, there were 4,349 instances of book bans across 23 states and 52 public school districts. As a result, schools can't make certain books – predominantly those by Black and LGBTQ authors discussing issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation – available to students to learn from and explore, even voluntarily and on their own time.

All of it leads to a chilling effect on instruction our country.

We’ll be clear: Every student has a First Amendment right to read and learn about the history and viewpoints of all communities – including their own identity – in and outside of the classroom. This wave of censorship activity is attempting to erase the legacy of discrimination and lived experiences of Black and Brown people, women and girls, and LGBTQ+ individuals. And it’s refusing to let students think for themselves.

That’s why the ACLU is already hard at work to fight back against classroom censorship and book bans through lawsuits and education. But while our teams push exhaustively in the courts and the streets – public support is also going to make a huge difference in the fight.

Join us in this critical fight for free speech and equitable education. Take our pledge today and when you do, we'll send you our Right to Learn toolkit directly to your inbox.

In the face of continued and coordinated attempts to ban books and censor education on race and gender in our public classrooms – I support our students, our educators, and everyone’s First Amendment right to learn.