The Florida Senate

1006.28  Duties of district school board, district school superintendent; and school principal regarding K-12 instructional materials.--

(1)  DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.--The district school board has the duty to provide adequate instructional materials for all students in accordance with the requirements of this part. The term "adequate instructional materials" means a sufficient number of textbooks or sets of materials serving as the basis for instruction for each student in the core courses of mathematics, language arts, social studies, science, reading, and literature, except for instruction for which the school advisory council approves the use of a program that does not include a textbook as a major tool of instruction. The district school board has the following specific duties:

(a)  Courses of study; adoption.--Adopt courses of study for use in the schools of the district.

(b)  Textbooks.--Provide for proper requisitioning, distribution, accounting, storage, care, and use of all instructional materials furnished by the state and furnish such other instructional materials as may be needed. The district school board shall assure that instructional materials used in the district are consistent with the district goals and objectives and the curriculum frameworks adopted by rule of the State Board of Education, as well as with the state and district performance standards provided for in s. 1001.03(1).

(c)  Other instructional materials.--Provide such other teaching accessories and aids as are needed for the school district's educational program.

(d)  School library media services; establishment and maintenance.--Establish and maintain a program of school library media services for all public schools in the district, including school library media centers, or school library media centers open to the public, and, in addition such traveling or circulating libraries as may be needed for the proper operation of the district school system.

(2)  DISTRICT SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT.--

(a)  The district school superintendent has the duty to recommend such plans for improving, providing, distributing, accounting for, and caring for textbooks and other instructional aids as will result in general improvement of the district school system, as prescribed in this part, in accordance with adopted district school board rules prescribing the duties and responsibilities of the district school superintendent regarding the requisition, purchase, receipt, storage, distribution, use, conservation, records, and reports of, and management practices and property accountability concerning, instructional materials, and providing for an evaluation of any instructional materials to be requisitioned that have not been used previously in the district's schools. The district school superintendent must keep adequate records and accounts for all financial transactions for funds collected pursuant to subsection (3), as a component of the educational service delivery scope in a school district best financial management practices review under s. 1008.35

(b)  Each district school superintendent shall notify the department by April 1 of each year the state-adopted instructional materials that will be requisitioned for use in his or her school district. The notification shall include a district school board plan for instructional materials use to assist in determining if adequate instructional materials have been requisitioned.

(3)  SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.--The school principal has the following duties for the management and care of instructional materials at the school:

(a)  Proper use of instructional materials.--The principal shall assure that instructional materials are used to provide instruction to students enrolled at the grade level or levels for which the materials are designed, pursuant to adopted district school board rule. The school principal shall communicate to parents the manner in which instructional materials are used to implement the curricular objectives of the school.

(b)  Money collected for lost or damaged books; enforcement.--The school principal shall collect from each student or the student's parent the purchase price of any instructional material the student has lost, destroyed, or unnecessarily damaged and to report and transmit the money collected to the district school superintendent. If instructional materials lost, destroyed, or damaged have been in school use for more than 1 year, a sum ranging between 50 and 75 percent of the purchase price of the book shall be collected, determined by the physical condition of the book. The failure to collect such sum upon reasonable effort by the school principal may result in the suspension of the student from participation in extracurricular activities or satisfaction of the debt by the student through community service activities at the school site as determined by the school principal, pursuant to policies adopted by district school board rule.

(c)  Sale of instructional materials.--The school principal, upon request of the parent of a student in the school, shall sell to the parent any instructional materials used in the school. All such sales shall be made pursuant to rule adopted by the district school board, and the principal shall annually provide information to parents that they may purchase instructional materials and how to purchase the materials.

(d)  Disposition of funds.--All money collected from the sale, exchange, loss, or damage of instructional materials shall be transmitted to the district school superintendent to be deposited in the district school board fund and added to the district appropriation for instructional materials.

(e)  Accounting for textbooks.--Principals shall see that all books are fully and properly accounted for as prescribed by adopted rules of the district school board.

History.--s. 303, ch. 2002-387.