Here is how Utah enlarges parental choice: a few districts make a choice, and everyone else loses one.

Under the statewide removal process described by Axios, if three school districts find prohibited content in a book, every Utah public school must remove it. Two districts plus five charter schools can also trigger removal. This is local control with unusually long arms.

The mechanism matters more than the slogan. Your school need not reach the same judgment. Your parents need not make the same request. Once the threshold is met elsewhere, the book goes. Democracy has apparently introduced a family plan: a small group selects the restrictions and the rest of the state gets added automatically.

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Republicans say the laws protect students and give parents more say over school materials. The first claim is the argument; the second needs a map. Some parents acquire a say that travels. Others acquire an empty space that has already been decided for them.

Axios reports 44 books on the statewide list, including Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. That is separate from the 108 bans PEN America counted in Utah districts during the last school year.

There is no need to persuade every community. Persuade enough communities to activate the rule, and the communities you didn't persuade must comply. An impressive advance in parental involvement: your child's school can receive your decision from somebody else's parents.