The Florida Senate

233.16  Powers and duties of Department of Education in selecting and adopting instructional materials.--The powers and duties of the Department of Education in selecting and adopting instructional materials shall be:

(1)  PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.--To implement procedures prescribed by the Commissioner of Education for evaluating instructional materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each adoption. Included in these procedures shall be the following minimum standards:

(a)  Provisions which afford each publisher or manufacturer or his or her representative an opportunity to present to members of the state instructional materials committees the merits of each instructional material submitted in each adoption;

(b)  Forms on which a district superintendent or his or her designee shall submit the results of the district instructional materials committee's recommendations; and

(c)  Guidelines for district instructional materials committees, professional associations, and individuals for evaluating instructional materials for state adoption; however, the following minimum standards apply:

1.  A district instructional materials committee must reflect the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the district and may not consist of fewer than three persons. One must be a layperson and two must be teachers, it being the intent of the Legislature that committees of three or more persons include at least one layperson and one-half teachers as a part of their total membership. The committee must have the capacity or expertise to address the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the student population of the district. Teachers serving on district instructional materials committees must be certified in an area directly related to the academic area or level being considered for adoption. Personnel selected as teachers of the year at the school, district, regional, or state level pursuant to the provisions of the program conducted by the Department of Education are encouraged to serve on instructional materials committees.

2.  A district instructional materials committee may not deny any publisher or manufacturer or his or her representative time to present his or her product equal to that time given any other publisher or manufacturer or his or her representative.

3.  Each instructional material evaluated by district instructional materials committees, professional associations, and individuals shall be ranked numerically in relation to all other materials of the same type evaluated, and no two materials in the same subject area may receive the same numerical rating.

4.  District instructional materials committees, professional associations, and individuals who evaluate instructional materials and submit their findings and recommendations to the state committee shall do so in accordance with the provisions of s. 233.09(4).

(2)  SELECTION AND ADOPTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.--The Department of Education shall notify all publishers or manufacturers of instructional materials who have submitted bids that within 3 weeks after the deadline for receiving bids, at a designated time and place, it will open bids and proposals which have been submitted and deposited with the Department of Education. At the time and place designated, the bids or proposals shall be opened, read, and tabulated in the presence of the bidders or their representatives. No one may revise his or her bid after the bids have been filed. When all bids or proposals have been carefully considered, the department shall, from the list of suitable, usable, and desirable instructional materials reported by the state instructional materials committee, select and adopt instructional materials for each grade and subject field in the curriculum of public elementary and secondary schools in the state in which adoptions are made and in the subject areas designated in the advertisement, which adoption shall continue for the period specified in the advertisement, to begin on the ensuing April 1. Such adoption shall not prevent the extension of a contract as provided in subsection (3). The department shall always reserve to itself the right to reject any and all bids or proposals if it is of the opinion that any or all bids, for any reason, should be rejected. The department may ask for new sealed bids from publishers or manufacturers whose instructional materials were recommended by the state instructional materials committee as suitable, usable, and desirable; specify the dates for filing such bids and the date on which they shall be opened; and proceed in all matters regarding the opening of bids and the awarding of contracts as required by the terms and provisions of this chapter. In all cases, bids or proposals shall be accompanied by a cash deposit or certified check of from $500 to $2,500, as the department may direct. The department, in adopting instructional materials, shall give due consideration both to the prices bid for furnishing instructional materials and to the report and recommendations of the state instructional materials committee. When the department has finished with the report of the state instructional materials committee, the report shall be filed and preserved in the office of the Department of Education and shall be available at all times for public inspection.

(3)  CONTRACT WITH PUBLISHERS OR MANUFACTURERS; BOND.--As soon as practicable after the department has adopted any instructional materials and all bidders that have secured the adoption of any instructional materials have been notified of the same by registered letter, the Department of Legal Affairs shall prepare a contract in accordance with the provisions of the school code with every bidder awarded the adoption of any instructional materials. Said contracts shall be executed by the Governor and Secretary of State under the seal of the state, one copy to be kept by the contractor, one copy to be filed in the Department of State, and one copy to be filed in the Department of Education. After giving due consideration to comments by the districts, the department, with the agreement of the publisher, may extend or shorten a contract period for a period not to exceed 2 years; and the terms of any such contract shall remain the same as those set forth in the original contract. Any publisher or manufacturer to whom any contract is let under the provisions of this chapter must give bond in such amount as the department deems advisable, payable to the state, conditioned for the faithful, honest, and exact performance of the contract. The bond must further provide for the payment of reasonable attorney's fees in case of recovery in any suit upon the same. The surety on the bond must be a guaranty or surety company authorized by the laws of the state to do business in the state; however, the bond shall not be exhausted by a single recovery but may be sued upon from time to time until the full amount thereof is recovered, and the department may at any time, after giving 30 days' notice, require additional security or additional bond. The form of any bond or bonds or contract or contracts under the provisions of this chapter shall be prepared and approved by the Department of Legal Affairs. At the discretion of the Commissioner of Education, a publisher or manufacturer to whom any contract is let under provisions of this chapter may be allowed a cash deposit in lieu of a bond, conditioned for the faithful, honest, and exact performance of the contract. The cash deposit, payable to the Department of Education, shall be placed in the Textbook Bid Trust Fund. The department may recover damages on the cash deposit given by the contractor for failure to furnish instructional materials, the sum recovered to inure to the General Revenue Fund.

(4)  REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE CONTRACT.--The Department of Education may, from time to time, make any necessary regulations, not contrary to the provisions of this chapter, to secure the prompt and faithful performance of all contracts; and it is expressly provided that, should any contractor fail or refuse to furnish instructional materials as provided in this chapter or otherwise break his or her contract, the department may sue on the bond hereinbefore required in the name of the state, in the courts of the state having jurisdiction, and recover damages on the bond given by the contractor for failure to furnish instructional materials, the sum recovered to inure to the General Revenue Fund.

(5)  RETURN OF DEPOSITS.--

(a)  The successful bidder shall be notified by registered mail of the award of contract; and such bidder shall, within 30 days of receipt of the contract, execute the proper contract and post the required bond. When such bond and contract have been executed, the department shall notify the Comptroller and request that a warrant be issued against the Textbook Bid Trust Fund payable to the successful bidder in the amount deposited under the provisions of s. 233.15. The Comptroller shall issue and forward such warrant to the department for distribution to the bidder.

(b)  At the same time or prior thereto, the department shall inform the Comptroller of the names of the unsuccessful bidders. Upon receipt of such notice, the Comptroller shall issue warrants against the Textbook Bid Trust Fund payable to the unsuccessful bidders in the amounts deposited under the provisions of s. 233.15 and shall forward such warrants to the department for distribution to the unsuccessful bidders.

(c)  One copy of each contract and an original of each bid, whether accepted or rejected, shall be preserved in the office of the Department of Education for at least 3 years beyond the termination of the contract.

(6)  DEPOSITS FORFEITED.--Should any successful bidder fail or refuse to execute contract and bond within 30 days of receipt of the contract, the cash deposit shall be forfeited to the state and placed by the Treasurer in the General Revenue Fund.

(7)  FORFEITURE OF CONTRACT AND BOND.--In case of the failure of any publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials to furnish a book, or books, or other instructional materials as provided in the contract, his or her bond shall stand forfeited; and the department shall make another contract on such terms as it may find desirable, after giving due consideration to the recommendations of the Commissioner of Education.

History.--s. 716, ch. 19355, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 892(228); s. 13, ch. 59-282; s. 1, ch. 63-55; s. 1, ch. 65-47; ss. 10, 11, 15, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 8, ch. 69-402; ss. 22, 23, ch. 73-338; s. 8, ch. 74-337; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 2, ch. 77-358; s. 99, ch. 79-400; s. 4, ch. 80-125; s. 3, ch. 89-189; s. 11, ch. 91-182; s. 1292, ch. 95-147; s. 5, ch. 97-285.