Tennessee § 49-6-2207 - Adoption of textbooks and instructional materials by local board.

§ 49-6-2207. Adoption of textbooks and instructional materials by local board.

The local boards of education are authorized and required to adopt textbooks and instructional materials to be used in the public schools of their school districts, from the list of textbooks and instructional materials listed for adoption by the commission, the adoption to be for a period of no less than three (3) years, but not exceeding the period agreed to in the state contract approved by the commission. The commission is authorized to develop guidelines under which this restriction may be waived. Boards are encouraged to adopt and make available for use by every student at least one (1) textbook or instructional materials in each subject at grade reading level in every grade. Cities or special school districts may adopt the same textbooks and instructional materials that are used in the county in which the city or district is located. Local boards of education shall appoint review committees to review the textbooks and instructional materials proposed for adoption and shall make their adoption upon recommendations of such committees. These committees shall be set up by grade and subject matter fields and composed of teachers, or supervisors and teachers, and parents with children enrolled in the LEA at the time of appointment to a committee. The local board may also appoint experts in the grade level or subject matter field for which textbooks and instructional materials are to be reviewed. Experts may be college professors or credentialed subject matter specialists. The board shall determine the number of members of the committee based upon the relative size of the LEA. Teachers and supervisors who serve on a committee shall be teaching or supervising the respective grade or subject at the time of appointment. Committees shall be composed by grade or groups of grades arranged so that a committee may consider an entire series of books if it should so desire; provided, that in all cases, the teachers and supervisors appointed to the committees shall be licensed to teach in the state with endorsements in the subject matter or grade level for which textbooks or instructional materials are being reviewed. Teachers and supervisors shall have three (3) or more years of experience as teachers or supervisors in the public schools. The members of the committee authorized in this section shall serve for the length of time that the adoption process for which they are appointed lasts. All members appointed on the committees shall subscribe to the oath as set out in § 49-6-2201(i). The oath shall be administered by the county mayor or by some authorized official empowered to administer an oath. The director of schools in the LEA adopting textbooks or instructional materials under this part shall serve as an ex officio member of all committees appointed under subsection (c). The director of schools shall record a list of all textbooks or instructional materials adopted by the local board of education. Immediately, at the completion of the adoption process, the director shall forward a copy of the recorded adoption to the commissioner of education and shall post on the LEA's website the list of all books adopted. As provided in § 49-6-2202(e), a local board may furnish electronic textbooks and instructional materials to pupils attending the public schools; provided, that the electronic textbooks and instructional materials are furnished free of charge. A board that chooses to furnish electronic textbooks and instructional materials to pupils attending school in the district shall provide reasonable access to the electronic textbooks and instructional materials and other necessary computer equipment to pupils in the district who are required to complete homework assignments and to teachers providing homework assignments utilizing electronic textbooks and instructional materials furnished by the board. Acts 2014, ch. 981, §§ 6-8, 16-19.