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It was sometime in the 1990s that I first became aware of the Koch Brothers’ involvement in local school board races, often electing candidates who aligned with their education reform agenda; an agenda whose primary goal has been to promote alternatives to traditional public school systems, such as charter schools and private school voucher programs, as part of a long-term strategy to fundamentally change the perception of and reliance on public institutions, in favor of private, market-based solutions.
Up until I became informed about the Koch Network’s investment in public education, I never paid much mind to who was elected to school boards; but, have become increasingly aware that such disinterest was misguided and that vigilance is requisite. Though national front runner politics tend to dominate the news cycles, it’s at the granular level of state and local initiatives that public education is at risk from this danger hidden in plain sight.
Idaho has seen its own share of significant book challenges and bans, particularly driven by a 2024 state law (HB 710) that requires public libraries to move materials deemed "harmful to minors," including content about sexual conduct and homosexuality, to adult-only sections, allowing lawsuits against libraries for non-compliance, leading to removals of diverse and classic titles, despite legal challenges questioning its constitutionality and impact on free speech.
Equally controversial and divisive has been a Parental Choice Tax Credit, signed into law in early 2025 (HB93), despite significant public opposition, with thousands contacting the Governor's office against it. A lawsuit is in place challenging that law’s state constitutionality.
Most recently, a controversy over an "everyone is welcome here" sign displayed in the class room of a West Ada County school district centers on a new state law (HB 41) banning political/ideological displays in K-12 schools, leading to state officials and the Attorney General's office declaring the inclusive sign political and prohibiting it, sparking debate over free speech, inclusion, and the law's vague definition of "political".
So, firsthand experience in my home state of Idaho underscores my appreciation for Academy Award® nominee and Peabody Award winner Kim Snyder’s The Librarians (2025), which had its World Premiere at Sundance, and has gone on to win an Honorable Mention for Outstanding Documentary at San Francisco’s Frameline Film Festival; the Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice at the Hamptons International Film Festival; the Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision at the Seattle International Film Festival; and Jury Prizes for Best Documentary Feature at the Sarasota Film Festival, the Dallas International Film Festival, and Atlanta’s Out On Film Festival. With all those awards under its belt, and audiences choosing it as the best of their fests, The Librarians rolls out theatrically in the Bay Area at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley, Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol and the Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael. Snyder is accompanying most of those screenings, with several already sold out. Meanwhile, it’s crickets here in Boise, even at The Flicks. What with all the attacks on public education in force here in Idaho, you would think….?
The film’s tagline—"America’s war on books is more than a war on words”—emphasizes the fascist undertones of a Christian Nationalist movement in the United States funding efforts to undermine and take over control of public schools and libraries. As synopsized by the filmmakers: “In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQIA+ stories—triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work—the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale. Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.”
Their bravery on display enforces The Hollywood Reporter’s assessment that The Librarians is “a different kind of superhero movie.” One such hero opposing the book bans is Weston Brown who travels from San Diego to his hometown of Glanbury, Texas to speak at a school board meeting against his mother Monica Brown’s relentlessly righteous crusade to repress LGBTQIA+ material in particular and to file criminal charges against librarians. Having been ousted from the Brown family once he came out, and forbidden to interact with his eight siblings, Brown’s depiction of his mother as a religious fanatic imprisoned in fear is especially heartbreaking, even as she weirdly insists on filming everything on her cellphone and makes no bones about photobombing her son when he is being interviewed by a local television anchorman.
