District school board instructional materials review process.

(1) A district school board or consortium of school districts may implement an instructional materials program that includes the review, recommendation, adoption, and purchase of instructional materials. The district school superintendent shall annually certify to the department that all instructional materials for core courses used by the district are aligned with applicable state standards. A list of the core instructional materials that will be used or purchased for use by the school district shall be included in the certification.

(2)(a) If a district school board chooses to implement its own instructional materials program, the school board shall adopt rules implementing the district’s instructional materials program which must include its processes, criteria, and requirements for the following:

1. Selection of reviewers, one or more of whom must be parents with children in public schools.

2. Review of instructional materials.

3. Selection of instructional materials, including a thorough review of curriculum content.

4. Reviewer recommendations.

5. District school board adoption.

6. Purchase of instructional materials.

(b) District school board rules must also:

1. Identify, by subject area, a review cycle for instructional materials.

2. Specify the qualifications for an instructional materials reviewer and the process for selecting reviewers; list a reviewer’s duties and responsibilities, including compliance with the requirements of s. 1006.31; and provide that all instructional materials recommended by a reviewer be accompanied by the reviewer’s statement that the materials align with the state standards pursuant to s. 1003.41 and the requirements of s. 1006.31.

3. State the requirements for an affidavit to be made by each district instructional materials reviewer which substantially meet the requirements of s. 1006.30.

4. Comply with s. 1006.32, relating to prohibited acts.

5. Establish a process that certifies the accuracy of instructional materials.

6. Incorporate applicable requirements of s. 1006.31, which relates to the duties of instructional materials reviewers.

7. Incorporate applicable requirements of s. 1006.38, relating to the duties, responsibilities, and requirements of publishers of instructional materials.

8. Establish the process by which instructional materials are adopted by the district school board, which must include:

a. A process to allow student editions of recommended instructional materials to be accessed and viewed online by the public at least 20 calendar days before the school board hearing and public meeting as specified in this subparagraph. This process must include reasonable safeguards against the unauthorized use, reproduction, and distribution of instructional materials considered for adoption.

b. An open, noticed school board hearing to receive public comment on the recommended instructional materials.

c. An open, noticed public meeting to approve an annual instructional materials plan to identify any instructional materials that will be purchased through the district school board instructional materials review process pursuant to this section. This public meeting must be held on a different date than the school board hearing.

d. Notice requirements for the school board hearing and the public meeting that must specifically state which instructional materials are being reviewed and the manner in which the instructional materials can be accessed for public review. The hearing must allow the parent of a public school student or a resident of the county to proffer evidence that a recommended instructional material does not meet the criteria provided in s. 1006.31(2), taking into consideration course expectations based on the district’s comprehensive plan for student progression under s. 1008.25(2) and course descriptions in the course code directory.

9. Establish the process by which the district school board shall receive public comment on, and review, the recommended instructional materials.

10. Establish the process by which instructional materials will be purchased, including advertising, bidding, and purchasing requirements.

11. Establish the process by which the school district will notify parents of their ability to access their children’s instructional materials through the district’s local instructional improvement system and by which the school district will encourage parents to access the system. This notification must be displayed prominently on the school district’s website and provided annually in written format to all parents of enrolled students.

(3)(a) The school board may assess and collect fees from publishers participating in the instructional materials approval process. The amount assessed and collected must be posted on the school district’s website and reported to the department. The fees may not exceed the actual cost of the review process, and the fees may not exceed $3,500 per submission by a publisher. Any fees collected for this process shall be allocated for the support of the review process and maintained in a separate line item for auditing purposes.

(b) The fees shall be used to cover the actual cost of substitute teachers for each workday that a member of a school district’s instructional staff is absent from his or her assigned duties for the purpose of rendering service as an instructional materials reviewer. In addition, each reviewer may be paid a stipend and is entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses and per diem in accordance with s. 112.061 for actual service in meetings.

(4) Instructional materials that have been reviewed by the district instructional materials reviewers and approved must have been determined to align with all applicable state standards pursuant to s. 1003.41 and the requirements in s. 1006.31. If such instructional materials are for foundational reading skills, the materials shall be based on the science of reading and include phonics instruction for decoding and encoding as the primary instructional strategy for word reading. Instructional strategies within such instructional materials may not employ the three-cueing system model of reading or visual memory as a basis for teaching word reading. The instructional strategies within such instructional materials may include visual information and strategies which improve background and experiential knowledge, add context, and increase oral language and vocabulary to support comprehension, but may not be used to teach word reading. The district school superintendent shall annually certify to the department that all instructional materials for core courses used by the district are aligned with all applicable state standards and have been reviewed, selected, and adopted by the district school board in accordance with the school board hearing and public meeting requirements of this section.

(5) A publisher that offers instructional materials to a district school board must provide such materials at a price that, including all costs of electronic transmission, does not exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers such instructional materials for approval or sale to any state or school district in the United States.

(6) A publisher shall reduce automatically the price of the instructional materials to the district school board to the extent that reductions in price are made elsewhere in the United States.

(7) The school district shall make available, upon request for public inspection, sample copies of all instructional materials that have been purchased by the district school board.