ENROLLED
       2013 Legislature            CS for CS for SB 1388, 2nd Engrossed
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                             20131388er
    1  
    2         An act relating to instructional materials for K-12
    3         public education; amending s. 1006.28, F.S.; revising
    4         the duties of a district school board with regard to
    5         instructional materials; creating s. 1006.283, F.S.;
    6         authorizing a district school board or a consortium of
    7         school districts to implement an instructional
    8         materials program; requiring the district
    9         superintendent to certify to the Department of
   10         Education that instructional materials for core
   11         courses align with applicable state standards;
   12         requiring the district school board to adopt rules;
   13         authorizing the district school board to assess and
   14         collect fees from a publisher that participates in the
   15         instructional materials review process; requiring the
   16         fee amount to be posted on the school district’s
   17         website and reported to the department; providing a
   18         limit on fees; providing for a stipend, reimbursement
   19         for travel expenses, and per diem for reviewers;
   20         requiring instructional materials that are approved by
   21         the district instructional materials reviewers to be
   22         aligned with applicable state standards; requiring
   23         each district school superintendent to annually
   24         certify that the instructional materials for core
   25         courses used by the district align with applicable
   26         state standards; providing pricing requirements for
   27         instructional materials; amending s. 1006.31, F.S.;
   28         revising the procedure for evaluating instructional
   29         materials; amending s. 1006.37, F.S.; revising the
   30         time period in which the superintendent must
   31         requisition instructional materials; providing that a
   32         district school board or a consortium of school
   33         districts which implements an instructional materials
   34         program is not required to requisition instructional
   35         materials from the publisher’s depository; amending s.
   36         1006.38, F.S.; providing for applicability; revising
   37         duties of publishers and manufacturers; amending s.
   38         1006.40, F.S.; revising the allocation for
   39         instructional materials; providing for applicability;
   40         amending s. 1001.10, F.S.; revising the duties of the
   41         Commissioner of Education with regard to instructional
   42         materials; amending s. 1011.62, F.S.; conforming
   43         provisions to changes made by the act; providing an
   44         effective date.
   45  
   46  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   47  
   48         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section
   49  1006.28, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   50         1006.28 Duties of district school board, district school
   51  superintendent; and school principal regarding K-12
   52  instructional materials.—
   53         (1) DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.—The district school board has
   54  the duty to provide adequate instructional materials for all
   55  students in accordance with the requirements of this part. The
   56  term “adequate instructional materials” means a sufficient
   57  number of student or site licenses or sets of materials that are
   58  available in bound, unbound, kit, or package form and may
   59  consist of hardbacked or softbacked textbooks, electronic
   60  content, consumables, learning laboratories, manipulatives,
   61  electronic media, and computer courseware or software that serve
   62  as the basis for instruction for each student in the core
   63  courses of mathematics, language arts, social studies, science,
   64  reading, and literature. The district school board has the
   65  following specific duties:
   66         (b) Instructional materials.—Provide for proper
   67  requisitioning, distribution, accounting, storage, care, and use
   68  of all instructional materials and furnish such other
   69  instructional materials as may be needed. The district school
   70  board shall ensure that instructional materials used in the
   71  district are consistent with the district goals and objectives
   72  and the course descriptions established in curriculum frameworks
   73  adopted by rule of the State Board of Education, as well as with
   74  the state and district performance standards provided for in s.
   75  1001.03(1).
   76         Section 2. Section 1006.283, Florida Statutes, is created
   77  to read:
   78         1006.283 District school board instructional materials
   79  review process.—
   80         (1) A school board or consortium of school districts may
   81  implement an instructional materials program that includes the
   82  review, approval, adoption, and purchase of instructional
   83  materials. Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, the district
   84  school superintendent shall certify to the department by March
   85  31 of each year that all instructional materials for core
   86  courses used by the district are aligned with applicable state
   87  standards. Included in the certification shall be a list of the
   88  core instructional materials that will be used or purchased for
   89  use by the school district.
   90         (2) The school board shall adopt rules implementing the
   91  district’s instructional materials program which must include,
   92  but need not be limited to:
   93         (a) Its review and purchase process.
   94         (b) Identification of a review cycle for instructional
   95  materials.
   96         (c) The duties and qualifications of the instructional
   97  materials reviewers.
   98         (d) The requirements for an affidavit made by a district
   99  instructional materials reviewer which substantially includes
  100  the requirements of s. 1006.30.
  101         (e) Compliance with s. 1006.32, relating to prohibited
  102  acts.
  103         (f) A process that certifies the accuracy of instructional
  104  materials.
  105         (g) The incorporation of applicable requirements of s.
  106  1006.31, which relates to the duties of instructional materials
  107  reviewers.
  108         (h) The incorporation of applicable requirements of s.
  109  1006.38, relating to the duties, responsibilities, and
  110  requirements of publishers of instructional materials.
  111         (i) The process by which instructional materials will be
  112  purchased, including advertising, bidding, and purchasing
  113  requirements.
  114         (3)(a) The school board may assess and collect fees from
  115  publishers participating in the instructional materials approval
  116  process. The amount assessed and collected must be posted on the
  117  school district’s website and reported to the department. The
  118  fees may not exceed the actual cost of the review process, and
  119  the fees may not exceed $3,500 per submission by a publisher.
  120  Any fees collected for this process shall be allocated for the
  121  support of the review process and maintained in a separate line
  122  item for auditing purposes.
  123         (b) The fees shall be used to cover the actual cost of
  124  substitute teachers for each workday that a member of a school
  125  district’s instructional staff is absent from his or her
  126  assigned duties for the purpose of rendering service as an
  127  instructional materials reviewer. In addition, each reviewer may
  128  be paid a stipend and is entitled to reimbursement for travel
  129  expenses and per diem in accordance with s. 112.061 for actual
  130  service in meetings.
  131         (4) Instructional materials that have been reviewed by the
  132  district instructional materials reviewers and approved must
  133  have been determined to align with all applicable state
  134  standards pursuant to s. 1003.41 and the requirements in s.
  135  1006.31. The district school superintendent shall annually
  136  certify to the department that all instructional materials for
  137  core courses used by the district are aligned with all
  138  applicable state standards.
  139         (5) A publisher that offers instructional materials to a
  140  district school board must provide such materials at a price
  141  that, including all costs of electronic transmission, does not
  142  exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers such
  143  instructional materials for approval or sale to any state or
  144  school district in the United States.
  145         (6) A publisher shall reduce automatically the price of the
  146  instructional materials to the district school board to the
  147  extent that reductions in price are made elsewhere in the United
  148  States.
  149         Section 3. Section 1006.31, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  150  read:
  151         1006.31 Duties of the Department of Education and school
  152  district each state instructional materials reviewer.—The duties
  153  of the each state instructional materials reviewer are:
  154         (1) PROCEDURES.—To adhere to procedures prescribed by the
  155  department or the district for evaluating instructional
  156  materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each
  157  adoption. This section applies to both the state and district
  158  approval processes.
  159         (2) EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.—To evaluate
  160  carefully all instructional materials submitted, in order to
  161  ascertain which instructional materials, if any, submitted for
  162  consideration implement the selection criteria developed by the
  163  department and those curricular objectives included within
  164  applicable performance standards provided for in s. 1001.03(1).
  165         (a) When recommending instructional materials for use in
  166  the schools, each reviewer shall include only instructional
  167  materials that accurately portray the ethnic, socioeconomic,
  168  cultural, and racial diversity of our society, including men and
  169  women in professional, career, and executive roles, and the role
  170  and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in the total
  171  development of this state and the United States.
  172         (b) When recommending instructional materials for use in
  173  the schools, each reviewer shall include only materials that
  174  accurately portray, whenever appropriate, humankind’s place in
  175  ecological systems, including the necessity for the protection
  176  of our environment and conservation of our natural resources and
  177  the effects on the human system of the use of tobacco, alcohol,
  178  controlled substances, and other dangerous substances.
  179         (c) When recommending instructional materials for use in
  180  the schools, each reviewer shall require such materials as he or
  181  she deems necessary and proper to encourage thrift, fire
  182  prevention, and humane treatment of people and animals.
  183         (d) When recommending instructional materials for use in
  184  the schools, each reviewer shall require, when appropriate to
  185  the comprehension of students, that materials for social
  186  science, history, or civics classes contain the Declaration of
  187  Independence and the Constitution of the United States. A
  188  reviewer may not recommend any instructional materials for use
  189  in the schools which contain any matter reflecting unfairly upon
  190  persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin,
  191  ancestry, gender, or occupation.
  192         (e) Any instructional material recommended by each reviewer
  193  for use in the schools shall be, to the satisfaction of each
  194  reviewer, accurate, objective, and current and suited to the
  195  needs and comprehension of students at their respective grade
  196  levels. Reviewers shall consider for adoption materials
  197  developed for academically talented students such as those
  198  enrolled in advanced placement courses.
  199         (3) REPORT OF REVIEWERS.—After a thorough study of all data
  200  submitted on each instructional material, to submit an
  201  electronic report to the department. The report shall be made
  202  public and must include responses to each section of the report
  203  format prescribed by the department.
  204         Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 1006.37, Florida
  205  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is added to that
  206  section, to read:
  207         1006.37 Requisition of instructional materials from
  208  publisher’s depository.—
  209         (1) The district school superintendent shall requisition
  210  adopted instructional materials from the depository of the
  211  publisher with whom a contract has been made. However, the
  212  superintendent shall requisition current instructional materials
  213  to provide each student with a textbook or other materials as a
  214  major tool of instruction in core courses of the subject areas
  215  specified in s. 1006.40(2). These materials must be
  216  requisitioned within the first 3 2 years of the adoption cycle,
  217  except for instructional materials related to growth of student
  218  membership or instructional materials maintenance needs. The
  219  superintendent may requisition instructional materials in the
  220  core subject areas specified in s. 1006.40(2) that are related
  221  to growth of student membership or instructional materials
  222  maintenance needs during the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th years of the
  223  original contract period.
  224         (3) A district school board or a consortium of school
  225  districts which implements an instructional materials program
  226  pursuant to s. 1006.283 is not required to requisition
  227  instructional materials from the publisher’s depository.
  228         Section 5. Section 1006.38, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  229  read:
  230         1006.38 Duties, responsibilities, and requirements of
  231  instructional materials publishers and manufacturers.—This
  232  section applies to both the state and district approval
  233  processes. Publishers and manufacturers of instructional
  234  materials, or their representatives, shall:
  235         (1) Comply with all provisions of this part.
  236         (2) Electronically deliver fully developed sample copies of
  237  all instructional materials upon which bids are based to the
  238  department pursuant to procedures adopted by the State Board of
  239  Education.
  240         (3) Submit, at a time designated in s. 1006.33, the
  241  following information:
  242         (a) Detailed specifications of the physical characteristics
  243  of the instructional materials, including any software or
  244  technological tools required for use by the district, school,
  245  teachers, or students. The publisher or manufacturer shall
  246  comply with these specifications if the instructional materials
  247  are adopted and purchased in completed form.
  248         (b) Evidence that the publisher or manufacturer has
  249  provided materials that address the performance standards
  250  provided for in s. 1001.03(1) and that can be accessed through
  251  the district’s local instructional improvement system and a
  252  variety of electronic, digital, and mobile devices.
  253         (c) Evidence that the instructional materials include
  254  specific references to statewide standards in the teacher’s
  255  manual and incorporate such standards into chapter tests or the
  256  assessments.
  257         (4) Make available for purchase by any district school
  258  board any diagnostic, criterion-referenced, or other tests that
  259  they may develop.
  260         (5) Furnish the instructional materials offered by them at
  261  a price in the state which, including all costs of electronic
  262  transmission, may not exceed the lowest price at which they
  263  offer such instructional materials for adoption or sale to any
  264  state or school district in the United States.
  265         (6) Reduce automatically the price of the instructional
  266  materials to any district school board to the extent that
  267  reductions are made elsewhere in the United States.
  268         (7) Provide any instructional materials free of charge in
  269  the state to the same extent as they are provided free of charge
  270  to any state or school district in the United States.
  271         (8) Guarantee that all copies of any instructional
  272  materials sold in this state will be at least equal in quality
  273  to the copies of such instructional materials that are sold
  274  elsewhere in the United States and will be kept revised, free
  275  from all errors, and up-to-date as may be required by the
  276  department.
  277         (9) Agree that any supplementary material developed at the
  278  district or state level does not violate the author’s or
  279  publisher’s copyright, provided such material is developed in
  280  accordance with the doctrine of fair use.
  281         (10) Not in any way, directly or indirectly, become
  282  associated or connected with any combination in restraint of
  283  trade in instructional materials, nor enter into any
  284  understanding, agreement, or combination to control prices or
  285  restrict competition in the sale of instructional materials for
  286  use in the state.
  287         (11) Maintain or contract with a depository in the state.
  288         (12) For the core subject areas specified in s. 1006.40(2),
  289  maintain in the depository for the first 3 2 years of the
  290  contract an inventory of instructional materials sufficient to
  291  receive and fill orders.
  292         (13) For the core subject areas specified in s. 1006.40(2),
  293  ensure the availability of an inventory sufficient to receive
  294  and fill orders for instructional materials for growth,
  295  including the opening of a new school, and replacement during
  296  the 3rd and subsequent years of the original contract period.
  297         (14) Accurately and fully disclose only the names of those
  298  persons who actually authored the instructional materials. In
  299  addition to the penalties provided in subsection (16), the
  300  commissioner may remove from the list of state-adopted
  301  instructional materials those instructional materials whose
  302  publisher or manufacturer misleads the purchaser by falsely
  303  representing genuine authorship.
  304         (15) Grant, without prior written request, for any
  305  copyright held by the publisher or its agencies automatic
  306  permission to the department or its agencies for the
  307  reproduction of instructional materials and supplementary
  308  materials in Braille, large print, or other appropriate format
  309  for use by visually impaired students or other students with
  310  disabilities that would benefit from use of the materials.
  311         (16) Upon the willful failure of the publisher or
  312  manufacturer to comply with the requirements of this section, be
  313  liable to the department in the amount of three times the total
  314  sum which the publisher or manufacturer was paid in excess of
  315  the price required under subsections (5) and (6) and in the
  316  amount of three times the total value of the instructional
  317  materials and services which the district school board is
  318  entitled to receive free of charge under subsection (7).
  319         Section 6. Subsection (2) and paragraph (a) of subsection
  320  (3) of section 1006.40, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  321         1006.40 Use of instructional materials allocation;
  322  instructional materials, library books, and reference books;
  323  repair of books.—
  324         (2) Each district school board must purchase current
  325  instructional materials to provide each student with a major
  326  tool of instruction in core courses of the subject areas of
  327  mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, reading,
  328  and literature for kindergarten through grade 12. Such purchase
  329  must be made within the first 3 2 years after the effective date
  330  of the adoption cycle. For the 2012-2013 mathematics adoption, a
  331  district using a comprehensive mathematics instructional
  332  materials program adopted in the 2009-2010 adoption shall be
  333  deemed in compliance with this subsection if it provides each
  334  student with such additional state-adopted materials as may be
  335  necessary to align the previously adopted comprehensive program
  336  to common core standards and the other criteria of the 2012-2013
  337  mathematics adoption.
  338         (3)(a) By the 2015-2016 fiscal year, each district school
  339  board shall use at least 50 percent of the annual allocation for
  340  the purchase of digital or electronic instructional materials
  341  that align with state standards included on the state-adopted
  342  list, except as otherwise authorized in paragraphs (b) and (c).
  343  This section does not apply to a district school board or a
  344  consortium of school districts which implements an instructional
  345  materials program pursuant to s. 1006.283, except that by the
  346  2015-2016 fiscal year, each district school board shall use at
  347  least 50 percent of the annual allocation for the purchase of
  348  digital or electronic instructional materials that align with
  349  state standards.
  350         Section 7. Paragraphs (o) and (p) of subsection (6) of
  351  section 1001.10, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  352         1001.10 Commissioner of Education; general powers and
  353  duties.—
  354         (6) Additionally, the commissioner has the following
  355  general powers and duties:
  356         (o) To develop criteria for use by department state
  357  instructional materials reviewers in evaluating materials
  358  submitted for adoption consideration. The criteria shall, as
  359  appropriate, be based on instructional expectations reflected in
  360  course descriptions curriculum frameworks and student
  361  performance standards. The criteria for each subject or course
  362  shall be made available to publishers and manufacturers of
  363  instructional materials pursuant to the requirements of chapter
  364  1006.
  365         (p) To prescribe procedures for evaluating instructional
  366  materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each
  367  adoption.
  368         Section 8. Paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of section
  369  1011.62, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  370         1011.62 Funds for operation of schools.—If the annual
  371  allocation from the Florida Education Finance Program to each
  372  district for operation of schools is not determined in the
  373  annual appropriations act or the substantive bill implementing
  374  the annual appropriations act, it shall be determined as
  375  follows:
  376         (6) CATEGORICAL FUNDS.—
  377         (b) If a district school board finds and declares in a
  378  resolution adopted at a regular meeting of the school board that
  379  the funds received for any of the following categorical
  380  appropriations are urgently needed to maintain school board
  381  specified academic classroom instruction, the school board may
  382  consider and approve an amendment to the school district
  383  operating budget transferring the identified amount of the
  384  categorical funds to the appropriate account for expenditure:
  385         1. Funds for student transportation.
  386         2. Funds for safe schools.
  387         3. Funds for supplemental academic instruction if the
  388  required additional hour of instruction beyond the normal school
  389  day for each day of the entire school year has been provided for
  390  the students in each low-performing elementary school in the
  391  district pursuant to paragraph (1)(f).
  392         4. Funds for research-based reading instruction if the
  393  required additional hour of instruction beyond the normal school
  394  day for each day of the entire school year has been provided for
  395  the students in each low-performing elementary school in the
  396  district pursuant to paragraph (9)(a).
  397         5. Funds for instructional materials if all instructional
  398  material purchases necessary to provide updated materials that
  399  are aligned with applicable to Next Generation Sunshine state
  400  standards and course descriptions benchmarks and that meet
  401  statutory requirements of content and learning have been
  402  completed for that fiscal year, but no sooner than March 1.
  403  Funds available after March 1 may be used to purchase hardware
  404  for student instruction.
  405         Section 9. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.