Policy 8.122

Textbooks and Related Instructional Materials

1. Adequate Instructional Materials.-- The School Board will provide adequate textbooks and other instructional materials in accordance with State law and State Board of Educational Rules. Instructional materials, as defined by Fla. Stat. § 1006.29(4), are "items having intellectual content that by design serve as a major tool for assisting in the instruction of a subject or course. These items may be available in bound, unbound, kit, or package form and may consist of hard backed or soft backed textbooks, consumables, learning laboratories, manipulatives, electronic media, and computer courseware or software. The term does not include electronic or computer hardware even if such hardware is bundled with software or other electronic media, nor does it include equipment or supplies."

   1. As stated in Fla. Stat. § 1006.28(1), "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."

   2. Pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 1006.37 (1), the Superintendent or designee shall requisition State adopted instructional materials from the depository of the publisher with whom a State contract has been made. The Superintendent or designee shall "requisition current instructional materials to provide each student with a textbook or other materials as a major tool of instruction in core courses of the subject areas specified in [Fla. Stat.] § 1006.40(2). These materials must be requisitioned within the first 2 years after the adoption cycle, except for materials related to growth of student membership or instructional materials maintenance needs", but this requirement may be waived as provided by State law.

   3. Any decision by a school to use class sets or not to issue textbooks or other instructional materials that are provided by the District on a one-per-student basis shall be communicated to parents and area superintendents. In all instances, school staff shall ensure that students have adequate materials for both in-class study and homework assignments.

   4. Instructional materials used in non-core courses may be purchased as class sets if the materials are intended to be used as reference materials for in-class use.

2. Allocation.-- The annual allocation and expenditure of State funds for textbooks and the annual purchase of State adopted or non-State adopted materials shall be in accordance with Chapter 1006, Part I. F, Florida Statutes, and applicable State Board of Education Rules.

   1. Use of State Instructional Materials Allocation.-- Absent a waiver from the DOE or any applicable exemption under charter district status, only up to fifty percent (50%) of the State allocation for textbooks may be used for the purchase of instructional materials (including library and reference books and non-print materials) not on the State-adopted list and for repair and renovation of textbooks and library books, pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 1006.40(3)(b).

   2. As stated in Fla. Stat. § 1006.40(3)(c), the District may use up to 100 percent of that portion of the annual allocation designated for the purchase of instructional materials for kindergarten, and 75 percent of that portion designated for the purchase of instructional materials for first grade, to purchase materials not on the State-adopted list. Any portion of State allocated funds for textbooks not expended for textbooks or not otherwise designated by legislative authority for library/media materials may be expended on library and reference books and for the repair and renovation of textbooks and library books.

   3. To the extent required byFla. Stat. § 1006.40 (7), in any year in which the total instructional materials allocation for the District, including the portion designated for library media materials and science laboratory supplies, has not been expended or obligated prior to June 30, the School Board shall carry forward the unobligated amount and shall add it to the next year's allocation, but the District maintains flexibility with this provision if allowed by statute.

   4. Pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 1006.40 (6), the District may issue purchase orders for instructional materials needed for the next school year subsequent to February 1 in an aggregate amount which does not exceed 20 percent of the current year's allocation, and subsequent to April 1 in an aggregate amount which does not exceed 90 percent of the current year's allocation, for the purpose of expediting the delivery of materials to be paid for from the ensuing year's allocation.

   5. A portion of the State instructional materials allocation will be distributed by the Accounting Services Department to charter schools based on each school's unweighted FTE count. The allocation is to be used for the purchase of instructional materials and library materials that each charter school selects to best meet the curricular needs of its students and teachers.

3. Selection, Adoption and Continued Use of Instructional Materials.-- The Board believes that the selection of instructional materials is within its jurisdiction in accordance with Fla. Stat. § 1006.28 and pursuant to relevant statutes and constitutional law. The Superintendent, through his/her designee, is required to provide for an evaluation of any instructional materials to be requisitioned that have not been used previously in the District's schools. The procedures outlined in this policy shall be used to evaluate and recommend instructional materials that are to be considered for District adoption, subject to administrative review as stated in this policy.

   1. Composition of District Instructional Materials Adoption Committees

      1. The District will create instructional materials adoption committees based on subjects being reviewed annually. Committees must have a minimum of three members, but may have as many additional members as the Superintendent or designee appoints. District committees will generally, except as stated below, consist of six to twelve members. A member of a State adoption committee may not serve on the District committee. Teacher members must be certified in and teaching in the subject area being reviewed.

      2. Elementary core subject adoption committees will be comprised of up to 24 voting members. Secondary adoption committees will be comprised of between three and twelve members. At least two-thirds of each District committee must be composed of teachers who are currently teaching and are certified to teach in the area(s) or subject(s) and appropriate grade levels being reviewed. District or area subject specialists or resource teachers and lay members make up the remaining third of the voting committee membership.

      3. Community representation on District adoption committees is encouraged. Lay citizens are Palm Beach County residents who are not professionally connected with education, such as professional or educational consultants. Lay citizens selected to serve on adoption committees may be any resident of Palm Beach County, or adult student or parent of a child attending public school in Palm Beach County or School Advisory Council members.

      4. Area and/or District curricular staff members who have taught in the subject area being reviewed may serve as facilitators on District adoption committees to provide subject matter expertise and communicate the district's curricular vision and goals to committee members. They may assist in the review process and the correlation of publisher submissions with course and subject instructional objectives. Representatives from the Exceptional Student Education Department, the Multicultural Education Department, and the Educational Technology Department, or other appropriate District departments may also serve as facilitators on District adoption committees.

      5. Teacher, specialist and lay citizen committee members will be appointed from nominations submitted by principals and/or District curricular staff. Nominations must be submitted on a completed School District of Palm Beach County form entitled "Teacher or Layperson Nomination for Instructional Materials Adoption Committee" (PBSD 2181). A copy of the form is available on the District's Records Management Department's web page currently located at www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/Records/PDF/2181.pdf and in the District's Instructional Materials Department. The form is incorporated herein by reference as part of this policy.

      6. The membership of each committee should reflect the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity of the District including a balanced representation from the various geographic regions and be representative of students of diverse learning styles and ability levels. School representation will be rotated with each adoption.

   2. District Adoption Procedures:

      1. The District adoption cycle for instructional materials shall coincide with the State cycle except where a separate District adoption is deemed necessary. Adopted materials shall be used during the adoption cycle until physically unsuitable, until replaced with newly-adopted materials, or until the course is no longer offered.

      2. The District review will focus on evaluating materials that are submitted by publishers for State adoption or other materials available at the time from appropriate publishers with a goal of recommending the most suitable materials for District adoption in Palm Beach County.

      3. In the selection of instructional materials to be used in the District, the standards used to determine the propriety of the materials shall include: age appropriateness, educational purpose to be served by the materials, degree to which the materials encompass the State and District school board performance standards provided for in Fla. Stat. § 1001.03(1), the inclusion of instructional objectives contained within the curriculum frameworks by the State Board of Education, the degree to which the materials would be supplemented and explained by mature classroom instruction, and a consideration of the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the students of the District. No book or materials that contain hard-core pornography or are otherwise prohibited by Fla. Stat. §§ 847.012 and/or 847.0133 shall be recommended for use in District schools.

      4. For District-wide adoptions in core subject areas, some teachers who teach that subject at the appropriate grade level and who are not on the District committee will be afforded opportunities to voluntarily review samples of the top two or three rated publishers' programs and give input to the District committee unless only one (1) submission is deemed acceptable by the District committee. Teachers' comments from the review opportunities will be presented to the District committee and will be weighed by the committee as a factor in its final decision-making process.

      5. District committees will be convened for the initial review of publisher's submissions during the summer months whenever possible. Reconvening committees will meet for one to two days during the fall to make final recommendations to administration.

      6. Each member of any District instructional materials adoption committee must sign an affidavit declaring no conflict of interest before transacting the business of the committee. A copy of the form for the affidavit (PBSD 2290) may be found on the District's Division of Curriculum, Department of Instructional Material's web page currently at: www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/instructionalmaterialsdept/adoptions.htm (under Affidavit), and on the District's Records Management Department's web page currently at: www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/Records/PDF/2290.pdf, and is incorporated herein by reference as part of this policy.

      7. Members of any District instructional materials adoption committee will receive instructions that they are prohibited from accepting gifts, money, emoluments, or other valuables which shall directly or indirectly influence the adoption or purchase of any instructional materials. These prohibitions apply to committee members. Committee members shall conduct themselves in the best interest of students in support of the district's mission statement.

      8. Each District adoption committee member will receive instruction and training in the evaluation techniques to be used, characteristics of effective instructional materials and the skills necessary to make valid, culturally sensitive, and objective decisions regarding the content and rigor of instructional materials. In addition to conducting Topic Comparisons, Horizontal Traces, and Vertical Traces where appropriate, the review process will include scrutiny of each program's correlation to the Sunshine State Standards or subsequent Standards adopted by the State Board of Education and the assessments that are based on the standards.

      9. District committee meetings will be open to the public. Public notification of adoption committee meeting dates and times will provided to the Public Affairs Office.

      10. The District prohibits the publishers, manufacturers, or representatives of instructional materials submitted for District adoption from communicating directly with voting members during the process of the review and during the time teachers are reviewing materials. All contact must be made through the District instructional materials specialist. Publishers should not be denied answers to questions and should be advised of the procedures and all related information. If a committee elects to have publisher presentations, every publisher submitting materials for consideration in that specific subject area will be provided an equal opportunity to present in the same amount of time provided to any and all other publishers. Committee members are prohibited from discussing matters relating to the instructional materials submitted for adoption with agents or representatives of a publisher either directly or indirectly except during committee meetings where presentations are made. Publishers are expected to abide by the Notification to Publishers or Manufacturers of Instructional Materials for guidelines governing District adoptions. A copy of the Notice is available on the District's Division of Curriculum, Department of Instructional Material's web page currently at: www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/instructionalmaterialsdept/documents/NOTIFICATION%20TO%20PUBLISHERS.pdf and the Notice is attached herein by reference as part of this policy.

      11. Materials submitted for possible adoption will be evaluated fairly by committee members using pre-established criteria and the same evaluation instrument. Publishers will be given written notification of any special conditions for participation in the District's adoption process as determined by Curriculum Division staff.

      12. Interim reviews may be conducted as necessary and are arranged by the District instructional materials specialist.

      13. For committees meeting outside of teacher contract hours, teachers shall be paid at the appropriate hourly rate. For committees meetings during teacher contract hours, the District will provide funding for substitute teachers. Lay members will serve on a volunteer basis.

      14. The Committees may make recommendations for District adoption. All committee recommendations must be reviewed by appropriate District administrative staff who will review the appropriateness of the materials to ensure that they meet District curricular objectives. Subsequent to District administrative review and approval, the final District committee recommendations, along with any citizen comments, will be forwarded by the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum to the Superintendent for review and approval based on findings of the appropriateness of the materials. If approved by the Superintendent, the recommendations are submitted to the School Board for final approval and adoption.

      15. Any request from a school center to use textbooks or other related instructional materials as part of the curriculum and which are not District adopted, per se, must be approved by the Superintendent or designee based on the appropriateness of the materials to meet District curricular objectives. Any request for funding of such materials must be approved by the Superintendent or designee.

   3. Inventories.-- Annual textbook inventories of District-adopted instructional materials shall be posted on the District's web page currently located at: www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/onlinereporting. The online inventory report shall serve as:

      1. the official District adoption listing of materials used in the District's curriculum;

      2. the inventory/summary of all curricular instructional materials for which a school center/department is responsible; and

      3. a guide for determining the following school year's needs as provided by instructions/procedures issued annually.

4. Disposal.-- The District Instructional Materials Department shall arrange for the disposal of obsolete or physically unsuitable materials or those no longer on State contract, as stated in Fla. Stat. § 1006.41, and no longer on the District's local adoption list or otherwise still officially in use in the District, as follows:

   1. Giving or lending the materials to other public education programs within the District or State, to Charter schools in the District or State, to the teachers to use in developing supplementary teaching materials, to students or others (including the general public or foreign countries), or to any charitable organization, governmental agency, home education students, private school, or State; or

   2. Selling the materials to used book dealers, recycling plants, pulp mills, or other persons, firms, or corporations upon such terms as are most economically advantageous to the District School Board.

   3. Pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 1006.41(3), all monies received by reason of sale, exchange or other disposition of instructional materials shall be deposited in the District school fund and added to the District appropriation for instructional materials.

   4. In the event that any instructional materials cannot be disposed of as provided in subsections (a) or (b), the materials may be destroyed, using any reasonable and safe method.

5. This policy will be periodically revised as necessary to keep it current with the State law and rules which it supplements, although appropriate staff should be familiar with Fla. Stat. Ch. 1006, Part I. F, as this Policy is not intended to reproduce all the details set forth in the law. The Superintendent may also issue bulletins consistent with the standards of this policy.