Pity the thousands of public school principals who labor in Florida. Two years ago, the state Legislature ordered them to make sure students weren’t exposed to books with objectionable content, kicking off a huge book-banning controversy that has made all Floridians look like a bunch of nutty blue-noses.

Now, at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who propelled this embarrassing effort because he thought it would help his failed run for president, Florida officials have a new message for principals: You could soon face state penalties if you illegally prevent students from looking at library books in your schools.

Talk about whiplash! First principals are told they can get in big trouble for keeping objectionable books on school shelves. Now the state is considering a rule that would penalize them for taking them off. Remember when principals had more important things to worry about, like educating almost 3 million Florida students?

Confusion is inevitable whenever our Republican-dominated Legislature or state agencies approve a vague rule or law, which they do far too often. The people who are affected have no way to know exactly where new lines have been drawn. That paralyzes the process and infuriates the people who have to navigate through the haze, which seems to be exactly what some Republican culture-warriors want.

Since the book challenges began last year, Florida schools have led the nation in pulling materials off their shelves, according to PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of speech. PEN notes that most of the challenged books here deal with gender identity and other LGBTQ+ issues, a good indication of other issues at play.

The new rule proposed this month — a tacit admission that state officials went too far last year — is designed in part to combat a handful of conservative activists who hijacked the challenge process by objecting to too many books at a time. Just two people — a transplanted New Yorker and an Escambia County English teacher — filed about half of the 1,100 complaints made over a recent 12-month period, according to a Tampa Bay Times investigation.

But DeSantis also wants to crack down on principals and other educators who he says are trying to score political points by arbitrarily removing access to entire sections of school libraries. If he gets his way, principals could once again get bitten in the rear, caught between vague and conflicting mandates.

Is enough ever enough for our state government, which is clearly more concerned with ideological red meat than meeting the needs of Florida residents? How does ginning up a book-banning controversy help residents pay for gas, groceries and a place to live? Does it reduce crime or drug abuse? How about our rapidly spiraling insurance crisis, which could force some residents out of their homes?

As we’ve noted before, the simplest solution to this made-up problem is one that has been there all along — having parents who don’t want their children exposed to certain materials “opt out” of any requirement they do so. That would protect their rights, as well as the rights of parents who want their children to read as widely as possible.

DeSantis says he is just trying to return power to parents. It would be better for everyone if he encouraged parents to use the power they already have.

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