South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 43 - STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION › Article 4 - TEXTBOOK REGULATIONS › Section 43-70 - Textbook Adoption Regulation

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
Section
			 1. Statutory Authority
Pursuant to Sections
				59-5-60
				and
				59-31-550,
				the State Board of Education shall have the responsibility and duty to adopt
				the instructional materials used for instruction in the free public schools of
				South Carolina subject to the provisions of the sections that follow. South
				Carolina contract statutes and any other applicable State laws guide the
				instructional materials adoption process.
Section 2. Instructional Materials Evaluation
			 Criteria
General criteria governing the adoption of instructional
				materials shall be developed and revised by the State Department of Education
				and presented to the State Board of Education. Specific subject criteria are
				contained in the grade level education standards adopted by the State Board as
				well as each curriculum framework, occupational education core curriculum, and
				other program area materials which are not addressed within the standards and
				or curriculum framework and shall be used in the evaluation process.
Section 3. Instructional Materials
			 Advisory Committee
The State Board of Education shall appoint, with the
				recommendation of the State Superintendent of Education, an Instructional
				Materials Advisory Committee. The Committee shall consist of fifteen members;
				six members who are actively engaged in teaching in South Carolina public
				schools; eight members who are actively engaged in school work either
				administratively or supervisory, at least one from each congressional district
				and two at large; and one lay citizen, preferably a former member of the State
				Board of Education. It is the intention of the State Board that the Committee
				membership include members whose interests reflect the needs of all students
				served by the educational system. Seven of the members shall be appointed for a
				term of two years; eight shall be appointed for a term of four years.
				Thereafter, the term of all appointed members shall be four years. The
				Committee shall be facilitated by appropriate staff members from offices of the
				State Department of Education.
The duties of the Advisory Committee shall be to study
				continually the Instructional Materials Review, Selection, and Distribution
				Process and make recommendations to the State Board of Education through the
				State Superintendent of Education as to changes needed in the process to meet
				the needs of students, schools, and school districts for instructional
				materials. The Committee should address: recommendations in regard to
				exercising options in existing contracts; recommendations in regard to
				renegotiating expiring contracts; and recommendations for prioritization of
				purchases should funds not be available. The Committee shall give careful
				attention to new and improved methods of presenting instructional materials.
				The Committee is authorized to secure the assistance and advice of consultants.
				Special consideration should be given to consultants from within the
				state.
The Instructional Materials Advisory Committee shall meet
				annually at the call of the Chair. Additional meetings, when necessary, may be
				held at the call of the Chair, a majority of its members, on request by the
				State Board of Education, or the State Superintendent of Education. However,
				the State Board of Education reserves the right to limit the number of official
				meetings this Committee may hold in one school year.
The Instructional Materials Advisory Committee may make
				curriculum reports when in its judgment such reports are deemed advisable. The
				Committee shall report to the State Board of Education not later than May of
				each year any changes needed to be made in the Instructional Materials Review,
				Selection, and Distribution Process during the following school year.
Section 4. Instructional Materials
			 Review Panels Established
The State Board of Education shall appoint, with the
				recommendation of the State Superintendent of Education, Instructional
				Materials Review Panel or Panels for each area for which a curriculum framework
				has been adopted by the State Board of Education, occupational education core
				curriculum, or other program areas not addressed within a curriculum framework.
				The number of Panels needed and number of Panel members needed for each
				framework, occupational education core curriculum, or other program area shall
				be included in the recommendation from the State Superintendent of Education.
				Names of potential Review Panel members shall be obtained from district
				superintendents, State Board of Education members, curriculum framework writing
				teams, State Department of Education curriculum specialists, and others. For
				each position there shall be a nominee and one alternate. In the event the
				nominee does not accept, the State Superintendent of Education is authorized to
				appoint the alternate and to make other substitutions when necessary.
It is the desire of the State Board of Education that a balance
				be maintained on each Instructional Materials Review Panel between large and
				small, rural and urban schools and school districts, and that the Panel
				membership include members whose interests reflect the needs of all students
				served by the educational system. Each Review Panel may have up to 25 percent
				lay membership. All other members shall be persons who are actively engaged in
				teaching, in the supervision of teaching, in the administration of public
				schools, and persons who have had teaching experience, special training or
				supervision in the subject field in which they have been appointed, or who have
				expertise in a subject area from which material and information should be
				integrated within the subject area under review. A majority of those appointed
				shall be full-time classroom teachers. The recommendations by the State
				Superintendent of Education shall include the size of each Review Panel, length
				of service term for each member, and the appointment of a State Department of
				Education staff member as facilitator for each Review Panel.
Section 5. Subject Areas Open for Bid
The State Board of Education, upon the acceptance of the
				recommendations from the Instructional Materials Advisory Committee or upon
				adoption or revision of a curriculum framework in a particular subject area,
				shall call for the adoption of instructional materials. The State Board of
				Education, through the State Superintendent of Education, shall make
				information relative to the call for bids available to publishers vendors and
				school administrators, not later than 210 calendar days preceding the adoption
				date. It shall also make arrangements for an official announcement at least
				forty-five days before bids are to be opened. This announcement shall be sent
				to all companies registered with the State Department of Education, and a
				notice shall be given by legal advertisement in at least one daily newspaper in
				the State of South Carolina in accordance with general legal
				requirements.
Upon formal notice of the call for bids by the State
				Superintendent of Education, sample copies of the bid forms shall be made
				available to be used by companies in submitting instructional materials for
				adoption and a copy of the contract and bond each company shall be required to
				execute if its materials are adopted.
The State Superintendent of Education shall develop for State
				Board of Education approval a schedule outlining major dates and occurrences of
				the adoption process. The State Superintendent is authorized to make
				adjustments in the dates when necessary for the success of the adoption
				program. A copy of the Calendar of Events shall be provided to
				publishers/vendors with the call for bids.
Section 6. Submission of Materials for Panel
			 Review
Publishers/vendors shall submit one copy of a brief along with
				the official bid for all instructional materials being offered for adoption.
				Failure to comply with this regulation shall automatically exclude materials
				for adoption. The brief shall include the level of learning difficulty, an
				ancillary materials and services list to include designation of free materials
				and price of optional materials for purchase, and other specific descriptive
				information as required by the State Superintendent of Education.
Each bidding company or its representative is responsible for
				distributing instructional material samples to each member of the appropriate
				Instructional Materials Review Panel on or before the date set by the State
				Board of Education for each adoption year. Companies are requested to supply a
				copy of the brief with the instructional materials samples to each Panel
				Member. This may be done by personal delivery or by mail to the address
				specified by the Review Panel member. Arrangements shall be made by the State
				Superintendent of Education for presentations by each bidder to the appropriate
				Instructional Materials Review Panel as a group. These group presentations
				shall take place no sooner than thirty days after the date which bidders are
				expected to have delivered sample materials. During formal panel deliberations,
				thirty minute sessions will be scheduled for each bidder with the Instructional
				Materials Review Panels during which the bidder will be given the opportunity
				to answer additional questions and present additional information.
Review Panels may request additional information and
				appearances from bidders during the adoption process. This shall be done by the
				facilitator when requested to do so by the Panel.
Section 7. Responsibilities of the
			 Instructional Materials Review Panels
It shall be the duty of each Instructional Materials Review
				Panel to rate all items offered for adoption and file a written report with the
				State Superintendent of Education. The report shall consist of the Panel
				evaluation, list of items which the Panel recommends as suitable for adoption,
				and an annotation which includes for each item or series of items the common
				reading level of text materials, level of learning difficulty, and other
				information as required by the State Superintendent of Education. In order to
				be placed on the recommended list, instructional materials must receive
				affirmative votes from at least two-thirds of the Panel members.
There is no limit to the number of individual items or series
				of items which may be recommended by a Review Panel. All submitted items which
				meet the general and subject specific criteria as outlined in the grade level
				educational standards, curriculum framework, occupational education core
				curriculum, or other program areas for that subject should be recommended for
				adoption. However, prior provisions notwithstanding, the State Board of
				Education is not required to adopt any instructional materials recommended by
				the Review Panels that in the judgment of the State Board of Education are
				unsatisfactory.
The State Board of Education shall not approve and add a
				textbook or instructional materials to the state list of adopted materials
				unless it has been reviewed and rated by a properly constituted Instructional
				Materials Review Panel.
To facilitate efficient and competent evaluations by the Review
				Panels, the State Board of Education shall furnish the Panels with detailed
				instructions pertaining to its duties; an orientation to and copies of the
				subject's standards, curriculum framework, occupational education core
				curriculum, and other program area instruction; instructional materials
				evaluation criteria; and the time schedule necessary in order that the State
				Board of Education complete its work in an orderly fashion. It shall be the
				duty of the State Superintendent of Education or his/her designee to serve as
				coordinator and liaison between the State Board of Education and the Review
				Panels.
The Review Panels are authorized to secure the assistance and
				advice of consultants. Special consideration should be given to consultants
				from within the state. The Panels may receive clerical services from the State
				Department of Education.
Each Panel member must submit signed ratings sheets to the
				facilitator of the Review Panel for the State Department of Education
				files.
Textbooks shall not be recommended by the Instructional
				Materials Review Panels and the State Board of Education shall not adopt
				textbooks that fail to meet the official "Manufacturing Standards and
				Specifications for Textbooks." As national standards are developed for
				non-traditional materials, the State Board of Education may require adherence
				to those standards as well. Provided the State Board of Education reserves the
				right to waive minor deviations and technicalities, however, in each case the
				bidder is responsible for showing cause why the standards cannot be met. Copies
				of the official manufacturing standards and specifications and other applicable
				standards shall be made available for review to the bidding companies.
In the event an Instructional Materials Review Panel cannot
				submit a report that is acceptable to the State Board of Education, the Panel
				may be dissolved and a new Panel appointed in the same manner as the original
				Panel or the area may be considered for opening at a later date by the
				Instructional Materials Advisory Committee.
Each Instructional Materials Review Panel shall be dissolved
				according to the scheduled date of their term expiration.
Section 8. Public Review of Materials
The State Superintendent of Education shall make arrangements
				for a thirty-day public review of materials recommended by the Instructional
				Materials Review Panels prior to taking those recommendations to the State
				Board of Education. The public review sites shall be geographically distributed
				around the state at as many state-supported colleges and universities or, if
				necessary, other designated sites as will agree to host such reviews. The
				materials for public review shall be provided by the bidding companies. Public
				review sites shall be advertised in each congressional district in the
				newspaper with the largest circulation figures for that district.
A summary of the comments received during the public review
				period shall be provided to the State Board of Education to facilitate their
				adoption of instructional materials.
Section 9. Instructional Materials Review
			 Panel Recommendations Submitted to State Board of Education
The State Department of Education shall provide to the State
				Board of Education, the Instructional Materials Advisory Committee, and the
				Instructional Materials Review Panels information to assist in determining
				whether instructional materials offered for adoption meet the official
				"Manufacturing Standards and Specifications for Textbooks" or other materials
				standards as available. A list shall be furnished of materials offered for
				adoption which, in the Department's judgment, fail to meet the manufacturing
				standards and specifications and specify in detail the deviations the State
				Department of Education finds prior to the rating by the Review Panels.
Materials which may not meet the appropriate manufacturing
				standards and specifications for those types of materials may be adopted when
				recommended by the appropriate Instructional Materials Review Panel and when
				the Panel's justification is deemed sufficient by the State Board of
				Education.
The Review Panels may recommend and the State Board of
				Education may adopt instructional materials in manuscript or beta stage.
				Provided, however, any contract awarded for materials in manuscript or beta
				form shall be subject to final approval by the State Board of Education and the
				Review Panels as to the final wording, format, illustrations and captions, and
				physical construction. None of the members of an Instructional Materials Review
				Panel for subject matter adopted in manuscript or beta form shall be discharged
				until final action has been taken by the State Board of Education on the
				completed product.
Section
			 10. State Board of Education Approval of Instructional Materials
Each Instructional Materials Review Panel shall submit to the
				State Board of Education through the State Superintendent of Education
				materials recommended for adoption in each subject area for which materials
				have been solicited for bid.
Section
			 11. Publish Instructional Materials Listing
The State Department of Education shall publish annually a
				listing of the newly adopted instructional materials for use in the public
				schools of South Carolina. A copy shall be provided to each school and school
				district.
Section 12.
			 Substitution of Instructional Materials
Substitutions of new copyrights for instructional materials
				under contracts shall be allowed only with written permission as specified
				below.
A. Any company under contract
			 desiring to substitute a later copyright of adopted instructional materials
			 with minor changes that can be used interchangeably in the same classroom
			 without confusion may make application to the State Superintendent of
			 Education. The company shall submit the appropriate number of samples of the
			 edition under contract, samples of the edition it proposes to substitute, and
			 complete lists of changes between the editions. If, after consultation with the
			 appropriate Review Panel, the State Superintendent of Education concludes that
			 the two editions can be used interchangeably in the same classroom without
			 confusion, the State Superintendent is authorized to grant permission to
			 substitute the new edition. All substitutions made under this provision shall
			 comply with Section 9 of the regulations as to the construction of the
			 instructional materials. All substitutions made under this provision shall be
			 approved by the State Superintendent of Education and reported to the State
			 Board of Education.
B. Any company,
			 desiring to substitute a later copyright of adopted instructional material that
			 is so different from the original material that it cannot be used
			 interchangeably in the same classroom without confusion, must make application
			 to the State Board of Education and agree to take up all copies of the old
			 instructional material in use in the public schools of South Carolina and allow
			 an exchange rate to the State equal to any equity they have in the used
			 material. The State Board of Education shall examine the company's request and
			 if, in its judgment, there is sufficient merit to warrant further
			 consideration, the State Board of Education shall instruct the appropriate
			 Instructional Materials Review Panel to review the materials for substitution.
			 After receiving the recommendation of the Panel, the State Board of Education
			 shall determine whether the substitution shall be allowed.
C. In all substitutions allowed, prices shall
			 not exceed the price named in the original contract.