Public school students in much of Pulaski County will regain the ability to access online educational materials through their local public library at the start of the spring semester with parental approval in light of the district’s concerns about a new state law governing library content.

The Pulaski County Special School District, which covers the rest of the county outside Little Rock and North Little Rock, had been participating in the Central Arkansas Library System’s “tech card” program since 2018 but withdrew at the start of the 2023 school year.

The tech card program provides students with “recommended resources divided by grade level for research, homework help, and more,” according to the CALS website, regardless of whether students have public library cards. Both public and private schools in Pulaski County have been enrolled in the program.

Before the school year began, an attorney advised PCSSD to withdraw from the program because CALS’ online student portal does not have “a way to filter search results and access to particular material,” district spokeswoman Jessica Duff said in November.

Central Arkansas school district drops library’s digital learning tools, citing lack of ‘filter’

CALS executive director Nate Coulter said he learned of the withdrawal last month when parents of PCSSD students told public library employees that their children’s tech cards no longer worked. He said Thursday at CALS’ board of directors meeting that the district was concerned about running afoul of Act 372 of 2023, a new law that would change how libraries handle controversial material, in case it would “put their staff in harm’s way.” 

More than 11,000 students attend PCSSD schools. The district had already been hoping to reinstate the tech cards, and recent news coverage of the issue sped up the process, Duff said Thursday.

PCSSD parents are now able to opt in or opt out of the tech card program by filling out a form on the district website, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported Thursday. The form became available Wednesday morning and will remain available throughout the holiday break, Duff said.

Coulter said he was initially concerned that the parental permission requirement would result in much fewer than the total number of PCSSD students having access to tech cards.

However, 395 parents had granted permission for their children to use the cards and only one had declined by Thursday morning, CALS communications director Tameka Lee said during the board meeting. She added that if parents do not decline the cards via the online form, their children will receive the cards.

By Thursday afternoon, 446 parents had granted access to tech cards, and still only one had declined, Duff told the Arkansas Advocate.

‘Ripple effect’

Legal concerns about the lack of a “filter” on the resources students can access via tech cards arose in light of Act 372. The law, parts of which have been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, would alter Arkansas libraries’ existing processes for reconsidering material and create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors.”

Supporters of Act 372, both in public and in the Arkansas Legislature, have said the policy is necessary to keep “pornographic” content out of children’s reach. Opponents of the law have said its purpose is to reduce access to content that reflects the general public, such as the LGBTQ+ community.

Coulter, CALS and 16 other plaintiffs sued the state in federal court over Act 372 in June. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks temporarily blocked the two challenged portions of the law on July 29, three days before its effective date, and the case will go to trial in October 2024.

Federal judge temporarily blocks two sections of Arkansas’ library obscenity law

One blocked section of Act 372 would have put librarians at risk of being charged with a Class D felony for “knowingly” distributing obscene material or informing others of how to obtain it. The section noted that “furnishing a harmful item to a minor” is a Class A misdemeanor.

The other blocked section would have given city and county elected officials the final say over whether a book challenged on the basis of appropriateness can remain on library shelves or should be relocated to a place minors cannot access.

Elected officials would only handle book challenges if a committee of library staff decides not to relocate a book and the complainant appealed the decision.

Act 372 would create a similar process for book challenges in school libraries, with school board members in charge of appeals. The lawsuit against Act 372 did not challenge this portion, and it went into effect Aug. 1 as scheduled.

Coulter described PCSSD’s temporary withdrawal from the tech card program as a “ripple effect” of Act 372 despite the judge’s ruling before the school year started.

Withdrawing from the program “was definitely frustrating” for district librarians, Duff said.

“We’re glad to see this reinstated,” she said. “We know it’s a major benefit for our students, especially at the secondary level.”

The previously-sought “filter does not exist,” Duff said, but allowing parents to opt out of their children’s use of the tech cards alleviates potential legal concerns.

“By having the parental permission side of things in place, it adds an additional level of involvement, at least from a custodial side of things,” she said.