Florida Senate - 2013 CS for SB 1388
By the Committee on Education; and Senator Montford
581-03372-13 20131388c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to instructional materials; creating
3 s. 1006.283, F.S.; authorizing a district school board
4 to review, adopt, and purchase instructional
5 materials; requiring the district superintendent to
6 notify the Department of Education if the district
7 school board decides review, adopt and purchase
8 instructional materials and to certify to the
9 department that core instructional materials align
10 with applicable state standards; requiring the
11 district school board to adopt rules; authorizing the
12 district school board to set and collect fees from a
13 publisher that participates in the instructional
14 materials review process; providing a limit on fees;
15 providing pricing requirements for instructional
16 materials; requiring each district school board to
17 submit an annual report to the Governor, the
18 Legislature, and the State Board of Education by a
19 specified date; amending s. 1006.29, F.S.; requiring
20 the Commissioner of Education to appoint state
21 instructional materials reviewers, rather than state
22 or national experts, to review instructional
23 materials; providing requirements, composition,
24 appointments, and terms for state instructional
25 materials reviewers; authorizing the commissioner to
26 remove a reviewer for cause; providing for public
27 disclosure of names and mailing addresses of appointed
28 state instructional materials reviewers; requiring a
29 district school board to be reimbursed for the cost of
30 hiring a substitute teacher for each work day that a
31 member of its instructional staff is absent while
32 rendering service as a reviewer; authorizing a stipend
33 for service as a reviewer; requiring entitlement of
34 payment for per diem and reimbursement for travel
35 expenses for service as a reviewer; providing that
36 payments for substitute teachers and reviewers be made
37 from the Textbook Bid Trust Fund; requiring the
38 Department of Education to post certain instructional
39 materials on its website; authorizing the department
40 to contract with a nonprofit organization or
41 association to administer the review process; amending
42 ss. 1006.37 and 1006.40, F.S.; conforming provisions
43 to changes made by the act; providing an effective
44 date.
45
46 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
47
48 Section 1. Section 1006.283, Florida Statutes, is created
49 to read:
50 1006.283 District school board instructional materials
51 program.—
52 (1) A district school board may determine whether it will
53 be responsible for reviewing, adopting, and purchasing
54 instructional materials submitted by a publisher. If such a
55 determination is made by the district school board, the district
56 school superintendent shall notify the department upon such
57 determination and describe the process by which materials will
58 be reviewed and adopted. The district school superintendent
59 shall annually certify to the department that all core
60 instructional materials are aligned with the applicable state
61 standards.
62 (2) The district school board shall adopt rules
63 implementing the district’s instructional materials program
64 which must include, but need not be limited to:
65 (a) Its review, adoption, and purchasing process.
66 (b) Identification of a term of adoption for instructional
67 materials.
68 (c) The duties and qualifications of the instructional
69 materials reviewers.
70 (d) The requirements for an affidavit made by a district
71 instructional materials reviewer, which substantially includes
72 the requirements of s. 1006.30.
73 (e) Compliance with s. 1006.32 relating to prohibited acts.
74 (f) A process that certifies the accuracy of instructional
75 materials.
76 (g) The incorporation of applicable requirements of s.
77 1006.38 relating to the duties, responsibilities, and
78 requirements of publishers of instructional materials.
79 (h) The process by which instructional materials will be
80 purchased, including advertising, bidding, and purchasing
81 requirements.
82 (3) The district school board may set and collect fees from
83 publishers that participate in the instructional materials
84 approval process. The amount assessed and collected must be
85 reported to the district school board. The fees may not exceed
86 the fees that are assessed by the state for materials submitted
87 for review and shall be allocated in a separate account or
88 district budget line item for auditing purposes.
89 (4) A publisher that offers instructional materials to a
90 district school board must provide the materials at a price
91 that, including all costs of electronic transmission, does not
92 exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers such
93 instructional materials for approval or sale to any other state
94 or school district in this or any other state.
95 (5) A publisher shall automatically reduce the price of
96 instructional materials to the district school board to the
97 extent that reductions are made elsewhere in the United States.
98 (6) Each district school board shall submit to the
99 Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House
100 of Representatives, and the State Board of Education an annual
101 report regarding the district instructional review, adoption,
102 and purchasing program and the impact on the quality and
103 availability of instructional materials, and the cost
104 effectiveness of the program. The district school board shall
105 submit the report on January 1 following the first fiscal year
106 of implementation of the program and each year thereafter.
107 Section 2. Section 1006.29, Florida Statutes, is amended to
108 read:
109 1006.29 State instructional materials reviewers.—
110 (1) For purposes of this section, the term “instructional
111 materials” means items that have intellectual content and that,
112 by design, serve as a tool for assisting in the instruction of a
113 subject or course.
114 (2)(1)(a) The commissioner shall determine annually the
115 areas in which instructional materials shall be submitted for
116 approval adoption, taking into consideration the desires of the
117 district school boards. The commissioner shall also determine
118 the number of titles to be adopted in each area.
119 (b) By April 15 of each school year, the commissioner shall
120 appoint state instructional materials reviewers for three state
121 or national experts in the content areas submitted for approval
122 adoption to review the instructional materials and evaluate the
123 content for alignment with the applicable Next Generation
124 Sunshine state standards. These reviewers shall be designated as
125 state instructional materials reviewers and shall evaluate
126 review the materials for the level of instructional support and
127 the accuracy and appropriateness of the progression of
128 introduced content. Instructional materials must shall be made
129 electronically available to the reviewers. The initial review of
130 the materials shall be made by only two of the three reviewers.
131 If the two reviewers reach different results, the third reviewer
132 shall break the tie. The reviewers shall independently make
133 recommendations to the commissioner regarding materials that
134 should be placed on the list of adopted materials through an
135 electronic feedback review system.
136 (c) Reviewers who are not appointed as laypersons must be
137 actively engaged in teaching, or in the supervision of teaching,
138 in the public elementary, middle, or high schools in the major
139 fields and levels in which instructional materials are used in
140 the public schools. Each reviewer must receive training pursuant
141 to subsection (6) in competencies related to the evaluation and
142 selection of instructional materials The commissioner shall
143 request each district school superintendent to nominate one
144 classroom teacher or district-level content supervisor to review
145 two or three of the submissions recommended by the state
146 instructional materials reviewers. School districts shall ensure
147 that these district reviewers are provided with the support and
148 time necessary to accomplish a thorough review of the
149 instructional materials. District reviewers shall independently
150 rate the recommended submissions on the instructional usability
151 of the resources.
152 (d) The commissioner shall appoint up to five reviewers for
153 each content area submitted for approval pursuant to paragraph
154 (a). At least 50 percent of the reviewers must be classroom
155 teachers who are certified in an area directly related to the
156 academic area or level considered for approval. One reviewer
157 must be a layperson, and one must be a supervisor of teachers.
158 The reviewers must have the capacity or expertise to address the
159 broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of
160 the state’s student population.
161 (3)(a) All appointments shall be as prescribed in this
162 section. A reviewer may not serve more than two consecutive
163 terms, and appointments are for 18-month terms. The commissioner
164 may remove a reviewer for cause, and any vacancies shall be
165 filled in the manner of the original appointment for only the
166 time remaining in the unexpired term. An employee of the
167 department may be appointed as an additional ex officio
168 reviewer.
169 (b) The reviewers’ names and mailing addresses shall be
170 disclosed to the public when appointments are made.
171 (c) A district school board shall be reimbursed for the
172 actual cost of hiring a substitute teacher for each workday that
173 a member of its instructional staff is absent from his or her
174 assigned duties for the purpose of rendering service as a state
175 instructional materials reviewer. Each reviewer may be paid a
176 stipend and is entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses and
177 per diem in accordance with s. 112.061 for actual service in
178 meetings of reviewers which are called by the commissioner.
179 Payment of such substitute teachers, the stipend, applicable
180 travel expenses, and per diem shall be made from the Textbook
181 Bid Trust Fund on warrants to be drawn by the Chief Financial
182 Officer upon requisition approved by the commissioner.
183 (4)(2) For purposes of the review process, instructional
184 materials state adoption, the term “instructional materials”
185 means items having intellectual content that by design serve as
186 a major tool for assisting in the instruction of a subject or
187 course. These items may be made available in bound, unbound,
188 kit, or package form and may consist of hardbacked or softbacked
189 textbooks, electronic content, consumables, learning
190 laboratories, manipulatives, electronic media, and computer
191 courseware or software. A publisher or manufacturer providing
192 instructional materials as a single bundle shall also make the
193 instructional materials available as separate and unbundled
194 items, each priced individually. A publisher may also offer
195 sections of state-adopted instructional materials in digital or
196 electronic versions at reduced rates to districts, schools, and
197 teachers.
198 (5)(3) Beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year, all
199 adopted instructional materials for students in kindergarten
200 through grade 12 must be provided in an electronic or digital
201 format. For purposes of this section, the term:
202 (a) “Electronic format” means text-based or image-based
203 content in a form that is produced on, published by, and
204 readable on computers or other digital devices and is an
205 electronic version of a printed book, whether or not any printed
206 equivalent exists.
207 (b) “Digital format” means text-based or image-based
208 content in a form that provides the student with various
209 interactive functions; that can be searched, tagged,
210 distributed, and used for individualized and group learning;
211 that includes multimedia content such as video clips,
212 animations, and virtual reality; and that has the ability to be
213 accessed at any time and anywhere.
214
215 The terms do not include electronic or computer hardware even if
216 such hardware is bundled with software or other electronic
217 media, nor does it include equipment or supplies.
218 (6)(4) The department shall develop a training program for
219 persons selected as state instructional materials reviewers and
220 school district reviewers. The program shall be structured to
221 assist reviewers in developing the skills necessary to make
222 valid, culturally sensitive, and objective decisions regarding
223 the content and rigor of instructional materials. All persons
224 serving as instructional materials reviewers must complete the
225 training program prior to beginning the review and selection
226 process.
227 (7) The department shall post on its website a list of
228 department-approved instructional materials, district-approved
229 instructional materials as applicable, and instructional
230 materials approved by other states which align with applicable
231 state standards.
232 (8) The department may contract with a nonprofit
233 organization or association to administer the review process.
234 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 1006.37, Florida
235 Statutes, is amended to read:
236 1006.37 Requisition of instructional materials from
237 publisher’s depository.—
238 (1) The district school superintendent shall requisition
239 adopted instructional materials from the depository of the
240 publisher with whom a contract has been made. However, the
241 superintendent shall requisition current instructional materials
242 to provide each student with a textbook or other materials as a
243 major tool of instruction in core courses of the subject areas
244 specified in s. 1006.40(2). These materials must be
245 requisitioned within the first 2 years of the adoption cycle,
246 except for instructional materials related to growth of student
247 membership or instructional materials maintenance needs. The
248 superintendent may requisition instructional materials in the
249 core subject areas specified in s. 1006.40(2) that are related
250 to growth of student membership or instructional materials
251 maintenance needs during the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th years of the
252 original contract period.
253 Section 4. Subsection (2) of section 1006.40, Florida
254 Statutes, is amended to read:
255 1006.40 Use of instructional materials allocation;
256 instructional materials, library books, and reference books;
257 repair of books.—
258 (2) Each district school board shall must purchase current
259 instructional materials to provide each student with a major
260 tool of instruction in core courses of the subject areas of
261 mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, reading,
262 and literature for kindergarten through grade 12. Such purchase
263 must be made within the first 2 years after the effective date
264 of the adoption cycle. For the 2012-2013 mathematics adoption, a
265 district using a comprehensive mathematics instructional
266 materials program adopted in the 2009-2010 adoption shall be
267 deemed in compliance with this subsection if it provides each
268 student with such additional state-adopted materials as may be
269 necessary to align the previously adopted comprehensive program
270 to common core standards and the other criteria of the 2012-2013
271 mathematics adoption.
272 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.