By: Wilson H.B. No. 867
73R3075 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the purchase of textbooks by school districts.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 12.01(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 (a) Textbooks adopted by the State Board of Education or
1-7 purchased by a school district as provided by Section 12.62 of
1-8 this code for use in the public schools of Texas shall be
1-9 furnished, under the plan as set out in this chapter, without cost
1-10 to the pupils attending such schools.
1-11 SECTION 2. Section 12.16(c), Education Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (c) Except as provided by Section 12.62 of this code,
1-14 textbooks <Textbooks> adopted in accordance with the provisions of
1-15 this section are adoptions for every public school in this state.
1-16 The board shall prescribe rules under which such textbooks adopted
1-17 and approved shall be introduced or used by or in the public
1-18 schools of the state. The board may not adopt any rule prohibiting
1-19 a school district from purchasing textbooks as provided by Section
1-20 12.62 of this code.
1-21 SECTION 3. Sections 12.61(f) and (g), Education Code, are
1-22 amended to read as follows:
1-23 (f) Reports as to the maximum attendance of each school
1-24 shall be made to the commissioner of education as prescribed in
2-1 Subsections (c) and (d) of this section not later than April 25 of
2-2 each year. Blank forms for such reports and for the requisition of
2-3 textbooks shall be prepared and furnished by the State Department
2-4 of Education. Each report shall identify any subject, grade level,
2-5 or school, as applicable, for which textbooks purchased by the
2-6 district in place of textbooks on a multiple list will be used the
2-7 following school year and shall specify the maximum number of
2-8 students in attendance in that subject, grade level, or school.
2-9 (g) Requisition for textbooks for a subsequent session shall
2-10 be based on the reports of the maximum number of scholastics in
2-11 attendance during the preceding school session, plus an additional
2-12 10 percent, except as otherwise provided. In determining the
2-13 maximum number of students in attendance for purposes of this
2-14 section, students are not counted if they are students in a
2-15 subject, grade level, or school, as applicable, for which textbooks
2-16 purchased by the district will be used the following school year.
2-17 Requisitions shall be made through the commissioner of education
2-18 and furnished by him to the state depository designated by
2-19 contractors of books not later than June 1 of each year; but in
2-20 cases of unforeseen emergency the designated state depository shall
2-21 fill orders for books on requisition approved by the State
2-22 Department of Education.
2-23 SECTION 4. Section 12.62, Education Code, is amended by
2-24 amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (h) and (i)
2-25 to read as follows:
2-26 (b) In each subject of the elementary and high school
2-27 grades, one or more of the several textbooks of each multiple list
3-1 adopted may be selected by local school officials or the board of
3-2 trustees of a school district may purchase textbooks in place of
3-3 those on a multiple list for one or more schools or for the entire
3-4 district; but all of the schools in any one district, or all
3-5 districts under the supervision of any one county school system
3-6 (county school board and/or superintendent) must select the same
3-7 book or books from a multiple list for all of the schools within
3-8 the system, except to the extent that the board of trustees
3-9 purchases textbooks not included on a multiple list for one or more
3-10 schools, as provided by this section.
3-11 (c) Once textbooks are selected from the multiple lists,
3-12 they shall be continued in use in that school system for the entire
3-13 period of the adoption. Textbooks a board of trustees purchases in
3-14 place of textbooks on a multiple list shall be used for the same
3-15 period as the textbooks on the multiple list that they are
3-16 replacing.
3-17 (h) A board of trustees that purchases textbooks in place of
3-18 textbooks on a multiple list shall order the textbooks as near as
3-19 is practicable to the date the state orders the textbooks on the
3-20 multiple list.
3-21 (i) The commissioner of education shall reimburse a district
3-22 from the state textbook fund for the cost of textbooks purchased in
3-23 place of textbooks on a multiple list. The commissioner may not
3-24 reimburse a district a greater amount for any textbook than the
3-25 cost of the highest-priced textbook on the multiple list for the
3-26 subject for which the textbook is being used. The commissioner may
3-27 not reimburse a district for more textbooks than the number the
4-1 district would have received if the district had selected the
4-2 textbooks from a multiple list.
4-3 SECTION 5. Section 12.63(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-4 read as follows:
4-5 (a) After purchase according to the provisions of this
4-6 chapter, all textbooks, including any textbooks a school district
4-7 purchases as provided by Section 12.62 of this code, are and shall
4-8 remain the property of the State of Texas.
4-9 SECTION 6. Section 12.64(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-10 read as follows:
4-11 (a) One or more members or employees of each district board
4-12 of trustees shall enter into bond in the sum of 15 percent of the
4-13 value of the books consigned to the district by the state,
4-14 including the value of any books the district purchases as provided
4-15 by Section 12.62 of this code, payable in Austin, Texas, to the
4-16 governor of the state, or his successors in office. All money
4-17 accruing from the forfeiture of the bonds shall be deposited by the
4-18 governor to the credit of the state textbook fund.
4-19 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-25 passage, and it is so enacted.