Iowa Senator for District 12 Amy Sinclair is supportive of a bill that passed through the Senate last week.

Sinclair says that a bill dealing in parental rights and curriculum transparency in schools also included a section about making sure that books in schools were age appropriate. She adds that the section states that any books that meet the standards for describing a sex act per Iowa Code 702.17 would not be allowed in schools, because they are not appropriate for schools for kindergarten through twelfth grade. Sinclair adds that the code goes into detail about what is considered a sex act, and would set a high bar on what reading materials would be appropriate for schools. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that keeping these books out of schools is in no way an act by legislators to make those books illegal.

“So curriculum and books that meet that definition would not be allowed in K-12 school. Now, to say that we’re banning books, that’s absolutely false. If a parent wants a child to have access to some of those books that might meet that definition, that’s certainly in their purview. To access those at the city library or at a Barnes and Noble or wherever.”

Sinclair says that legislators don’t believe that items or topics considered sex acts per Iowa Code should be discussed in public schools, and should not be included in the state’s K-12 Standards of Instruction.