By Wilson H.B. No. 709
74R2135 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 for
1-8 use in the public schools of Texas shall be furnished, under the
1-9 plan as set out in this chapter, without cost to the pupils
1-10 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, textbooks
1-14 <Textbooks> adopted in accordance with the provisions of this
1-15 section are adoptions for every public school in this state. The
1-16 board shall prescribe rules under which such textbooks adopted and
1-17 approved shall be introduced or used by or in the public schools of
1-18 the state. The board may not adopt any rule prohibiting a school
1-19 district from purchasing textbooks as provided by Section 12.62.
1-20 SECTION 3. Sections 12.61(f) and (g), Education Code, are
1-21 amended to read as follows:
1-22 (f) Reports as to the maximum attendance of each school
1-23 shall be made to the commissioner of education as prescribed in
1-24 Subsections (c) and (d) of this section not later than April 25 of
2-1 each year. Blank forms for such reports and for the requisition of
2-2 textbooks shall be prepared and furnished by the State Department
2-3 of Education. Each report shall identify any subject, grade level,
2-4 or school, as applicable, for which textbooks purchased by the
2-5 district in place of textbooks on a multiple list will be used the
2-6 following school year and shall specify the maximum number of
2-7 students in attendance in that subject, grade level, or school.
2-8 (g) Requisition for textbooks for a subsequent session shall
2-9 be based on the reports of the maximum number of students
2-10 <scholastics> in attendance during the preceding school session,
2-11 plus an additional 10 percent, except as otherwise provided. In
2-12 determining the maximum number of students in attendance for
2-13 purposes of this section, students are not counted if they are
2-14 students in a subject, grade level, or school, as applicable, for
2-15 which textbooks purchased by the district will be used the
2-16 following school year. Requisitions shall be made through the
2-17 commissioner of education and furnished by him to the state
2-18 depository designated by contractors of books not later than June 1
2-19 of each year; but in cases of unforeseen emergency the designated
2-20 state depository shall fill orders for books on requisition
2-21 approved by the State Department of Education.
2-22 SECTION 4. Section 12.62, Education Code, is amended by
2-23 amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (h) and (i)
2-24 to read as follows:
2-25 (b) In each subject of the elementary and high school
2-26 grades, one or more of the several textbooks of each multiple list
2-27 adopted may be selected by local school officials or the board of
3-1 trustees of a school district may purchase textbooks in place of
3-2 those on a multiple list for one or more schools or for the entire
3-3 district; but all of the schools in any one district, or all
3-4 districts under the supervision of any one county school system
3-5 (county school board and/or superintendent) must select the same
3-6 book or books from a multiple list for all of the schools within
3-7 the system, except to the extent that the board of trustees
3-8 purchases textbooks not included on a multiple list for one or more
3-9 schools, as provided by this section.
3-10 (c) Once textbooks are selected from the multiple lists,
3-11 they shall be continued in use in that school system for the entire
3-12 period of the adoption. Textbooks a board of trustees purchases in
3-13 place of textbooks on a multiple list shall be used for the same
3-14 period as the textbooks on the multiple list that they are
3-15 replacing.
3-16 (h) A board of trustees that purchases textbooks in place of
3-17 textbooks on a multiple list shall order the textbooks as near as
3-18 is practicable to the date the state orders the textbooks on the
3-19 multiple list.
3-20 (i) The commissioner of education shall reimburse a district
3-21 from the state textbook fund for the cost of textbooks purchased in
3-22 place of textbooks on a multiple list. The commissioner may not
3-23 reimburse a district a greater amount for any textbook than the
3-24 cost of the highest-priced textbook on the multiple list for the
3-25 subject for which the textbook is being used. The commissioner may
3-26 not reimburse a district for more textbooks than the number the
3-27 district would have received if the district had selected the
4-1 textbooks from a multiple list.
4-2 SECTION 5. Section 12.63(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-3 read as follows:
4-4 (a) After purchase according to the provisions of this
4-5 chapter, all textbooks, including any textbooks a school district
4-6 purchases as provided by Section 12.62, are and shall remain the
4-7 property of the State of Texas.
4-8 SECTION 6. Section 11.273(f), Education Code, is repealed.
4-9 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-15 passage, and it is so enacted.