Textbook Bill

[IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE CALL TO ACTION: The Senate today, (Thursday, 4/3/2014) will be debating this Senate Bill CS/SB 864 and then on Friday (4/4/2014) they will vote on the bill.  Please read below on this complex issue and then contact not only your Florida Senator but in particular Senator Rob Bradley, Senator John Legg, Senator Bill Montford, Senator Jeremy Ring, Senator Alan Hays and other Florida Senators and asked them to NOT support Senate’s bill but to support the House’s HB 921 “strike-all” Amended version. Follow this link for a list of Senators: https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators]

Choosing new textbooks for our students is often a challenging undertaking. Having experienced the process as both a parent and as a school board member I am pleased with the process Citrus Schools uses to select textbooks.  Our textbook selection process includes involving the very educators that will be delivering the content to our students. Textbooks are funded on a subject area rotation and are typically expected to be used for at least five years. To view Citrus Schools’ rotation of subject area textbook selections visit our textbook page at: http://www.citrus.k12.fl.us/edserv/klauderm/instructional_materials.htm

There are bills that will go to a floor vote in the coming days which would have a costly and negative effect on our students and schools: Senate Bill CS/SB 864 titled, “Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education” if approved would eliminate the state level instructional materials review and add new unfunded mandates are just the beginnings of concerns we have. [NOTE: The House companion – HB 921 – this week has been substantially amended to retain the current state level adoption process and provide guidelines for districts that choose to follow an optional local adoption process.]

The textbook selection process in Citrus School District begins by choosing potential textbook selections from the Florida Department of Education’s Catalog of State Adopted Instructional Materials. These catalog choices are provided to districts by FL-DOE to ensure that the textbook choices districts choose meet the Florida educational standards.  During the 2013 state legislative session the Legislature passed a change provided school board with the option to allow school districts to not limit themselves to only choosing textbooks off of the FL-DOE Catalog of State Adopted Instructional Materials.  After passing that legislation last year none of the 67 districts chose a textbook not vetted by FL-DOE.  In Citrus County the Educational Services Department oversees the selection process.  For each year’s adoption a textbook committee is formed that includes representatives from various schools, subject area trainers, and school curriculum administrators.  The potential textbooks are then reviewed and deliberated. A blind scoring process is used to determine strengths and weakness of selections. The committee then recommends to the Superintendent who then has final approval of what textbook is recommended to the school board for approval. School Boards then have to approve or not approve the recommended textbook(s).

If Senate Bill CS/SB 864 passes then the legislature will drastically change our process and mandate how and what districts do in choosing textbooks and it will be done by forcing districts to accomplish it without the necessary assistance of the Florida Department of Education.  Why is that so important? Because it is the State of Florida through both the Legislature and State Educational Board that determines the state curriculum standards and testing assessments. This is why it has been in law for school districts to have the assistance of State Adopted Instructional Material so that textbook choices match the standards the state is mandating.  To not do so is simply inappropriate and wrong.

What will happen if this bill passes?  It will eliminating a uniform and consistent update of materials for all Florida students and force each district to negotiate on its own rather than through a state competitive cost process. It will add significant new workloads to districts by placing districts now in the position of certify that the recommended textbook(s) meet state standards. It removes district’s freedom to determine the make-up of their adoption review committees and would conflict with current statute that requires that the Superintendent of schools manages the textbook selection committee and then places school board members in the role of choosing committee members and determining if they have curriculum experience. The bill creates unfunded mandates in that it will now require districts to fund advertise, create bids, provide electronic public comments, and hold public meetings and school board hearings in the selection of instructional materials.  It would significantly increases district purchasing departments workload and necessary approvals of purchase orders for multiple individual publishers rather than to a single state depository. It virtually eliminates the requirement for publishers to write to Florida standards and, instead, substitute generic content as they do for non-adoption states.  It would also remove vendor incentives to provide test item banks that can assist with development of student testing including end-of-course exams.

Proponents will say that this bill provides school boards with “local control” but that is false.  This bill forces school superintendents and school boards to use a specific process instead of their own.  These forced processes are costly and force school boards to select members of the general public to make textbook recommendations for students. That is not representative governing.  This bill at best is selective local control. We don’t see proposed legislation or policies by either the state legislature and/or the Florida Board of Education giving school boards local control of students’ academic standards (Florida State Standards/Common Core) and allowing districts to develop their our own assessments.

For these reasons I am against Senate Bill CS/SB 864, “Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education”.  This is simply another bill that if passed will have negative effects for students at a high cost to tax payers.  This bill is not yet approved. While there is still time I ask you to contact Florida representatives and encourage them not to support this legislation.

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