BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 391

By: Patrick

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Textbook publishers are currently required to provide school districts with sample copies of adopted textbooks on request of a district. According to interested parties, the printing and binding of these hardcopy draft books is expensive and poses a security challenge to publishers and districts. Since these sample textbooks are drafts and may still contain errors, they are never used. Publishers pass on to the state the costs of doing the print run, shipping, and delivery. C.S.S.B. 391 seeks to lower these costs by requiring a sample textbook provided to a school district to be electronic.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 391 amends the Education Code to require the notice published by the State Board of Education of the review and adoption cycle for textbooks to state that a publisher of an adopted textbook for a grade level other than prekindergarten must submit an electronic sample of the textbook as required by the bill's provisions and may not submit a print sample copy.

C.S.S.B. 391 requires that the sample of an adopted textbook provided by a textbook publisher on request of a school district be electronic and that the sample of each adopted textbook provided by a textbook publisher to be maintained at each regional education service center be electronic. The bill removes language specifying that such samples are sample copies and that the number of samples provided by a publisher to be maintained at each regional education service center is at least two.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.S.B. 391 requires the notice published by the State Board of Education of the review and adoption cycle for textbooks to state that a publisher of an adopted textbook for a grade level other than prekindergarten must submit an electronic sample of the textbook, rather than an electronic sample copy of the textbook, as in the original.

C.S.S.B. 391 differs from the original by removing statutory language specifying that the samples to be provided on request of a school district or to be maintained at each regional education service center are sample copies and that the number of samples provided by a publisher to be maintained at each regional education service center is at least two, whereas the original does not remove this language.

C.S.S.B. 391 differs from the original by making a conforming change.