CHAPTER 301
TEXTBOOKS

DISTRICT UNIFORMITY

  301.1  Adoption — purchase and sale — accredited nonpublic school pupil textbook services.
  1.  The board of directors of each and every school district is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt textbooks for the teaching of all branches that are now or may hereafter be authorized to be taught in the public schools of the state, and to contract for and buy said books and any and all other necessary school supplies at said contract prices, and to sell the same to the pupils of their respective districts at cost, loan such textbooks to such pupils free, or rent them to such pupils at such reasonable fee as the board shall fix, and said money so received shall be returned to the general fund.
  2.  Textbooks adopted and purchased by a school district shall, to the extent funds are appropriated by the general assembly, be made available to pupils attending accredited nonpublic schools upon request of the pupil or the pupil’s parent under comparable terms as made available to pupils attending public schools. If the general assembly appropriates moneys for purposes of making textbooks available to accredited nonpublic school pupils, the department of education shall ascertain the amount available to a school district for the purchase of nonsectarian, nonreligious textbooks for pupils attending accredited nonpublic schools. The amount shall be in the proportion that the basic enrollment of a participating accredited nonpublic school bears to the sum of the basic enrollments of all participating accredited nonpublic schools in the state for the budget year. For purposes of this section, a “participating accredited nonpublic school” means an accredited nonpublic school that submits a written request on behalf of the school’s pupils in accordance with this subsection, and that certifies its actual enrollment to the department of education by October 1, annually. By November 1, annually, the department of education shall certify to the director of the department of administrative services the annual amount to be paid to each school district, and the director of the department of administrative services shall draw warrants payable to school districts in accordance with this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, an accredited nonpublic school’s enrollment count shall include only students who are residents of Iowa. The costs of providing textbooks to accredited nonpublic school pupils as provided in this subsection shall not be included in the computation of district cost under chapter 257, but shall be shown in the budget as an expense from miscellaneous income. Textbook expenditures made in accordance with this subsection shall be kept on file in the school district. In the event that a participating accredited nonpublic school physically relocates to another school district, textbooks purchased for the nonpublic school with funds appropriated for purposes of this chapter shall be transferred to the school district in which the nonpublic school has relocated and may be made available to the nonpublic school. Funds distributed to a school district for purposes of purchasing textbooks in accordance with this subsection which remain unexpended and available for the purchase of textbooks for the nonpublic school that relocated in the fiscal year in which the funds were distributed shall also be transferred to the school district in which the nonpublic school has relocated.
  3.  As used in subsection 2, “textbooks” means any of the following:
  a.  Books and loose-leaf or bound manuals, systems of reusable instructional materials or combinations of books and supplementary instructional materials which convey information to the student or otherwise contribute to the learning process.
  b.  Electronic textbooks, including but not limited to computer software, applications using computer-assisted instruction, interactive videodisc, and other computer courseware and magnetic media.
  c.  Laptop computers or other portable personal computing devices which are used for nonreligious instructional purposes only.
[C97, §2824; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4446; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.1]
93 Acts, ch 63, §1; 96 Acts, ch 1113, §1; 2002 Acts, ch 1140, §31; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2004 Acts, ch 1101, §33; 2005 Acts, ch 169, §34; 2006 Acts, ch 1152, §49; 2010 Acts, ch 1077, §1; 2011 Acts, ch 34, §75

  301.2  Custodian — bond.
  The books and supplies so purchased shall be under the charge of the board, who may select one or more persons within the county to keep said books and supplies as the depository agent of the board under such rules and regulations as the board shall adopt. The board shall require of each person so appointed a bond in such sum as may seem to the board to be desirable, the reasonable cost of which, if a bond of an association or corporation as surety is furnished, shall be paid by the district. The board shall adopt rules and regulations to provide that no textbook in any branch determined by the board to be taught in the schools under its charge, shall be sold or rented by such depository agent to the pupils in such schools as a textbook other than those textbooks authorized by said board for use by the pupils in such schools; to provide that no such textbook shall be sold or rented by such depository agent at a price or fee higher than that fixed by the said board; and to provide such other measures not in conflict with law as are necessary properly to govern said depository agents and safeguard the said books and moneys.
[C97, §2824; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4447; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.2]

  301.3  Annual settlement by board of directors.
  At the close of each school year the board of directors in each school district shall cause a complete settlement to be made with each depository agent. A complete inventory of the textbooks on hand, with a statement itemized to show the expenses authorized and paid by the board, and the amount of money collected from each such depository agent during the year from the sale or rental of textbooks, shall be made in duplicate, signed by the secretary of the board and the depository agent and one copy filed with the secretary and one with the depository agent.
[C39, §4447.1; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.3]

  301.4  Payment from general fund.
  All the books and other supplies purchased under the provisions of this chapter shall be paid for out of the general fund.
[C97, §2825; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4448; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.4]

  301.5  Purchase — exchange.
  In the purchasing of textbooks it shall be the duty of the board of directors to take into consideration the books then in use in the respective districts, and they may buy such additional number of said books as may from time to time become necessary to supply their schools, and they may arrange on equitable terms for exchange of books in use for new books adopted.
[C97, §2826; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4449; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.5]

  301.6  Suit on bond.
  If at any time the publishers of such books as shall have been adopted by any board of directors shall neglect or refuse to furnish such books when ordered by said board in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, at the very lowest price, either contract or wholesale, that such books are furnished any other district or state board, then said board of directors may and it is hereby made their duty to bring suit upon the bond given them by the contracting publisher.
[C97, §2827; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4450; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.6]
301.7 through 301.9Reserved.

  301.10  Textbook suppliers.
  A person or firm desiring to furnish books or supplies under this chapter shall do all of the following:
  1.  Make available samples of all textbooks accompanied by lists giving the lowest wholesale and contract prices for the textbooks.
  2.  If requested by the department of education, make available a machine-readable version of a textbook purchased by a school district to the department in the best available format for electronic braille translation.
[C97, §2830; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4454; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.10]
93 Acts, ch 59, §2; 94 Acts, ch 1175, §15

  301.11  Bond.
  The board of directors shall require any person or persons with whom they contract for furnishing any books or supplies to enter into a good and sufficient bond, in such sum and with such conditions and sureties as may be required by such board of directors for the faithful performance of any such contract. Bonds of surety companies duly authorized under the laws of Iowa shall be accepted.
[C97, §2830; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4455; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.11]
RESERVED
301.12 through 301.23Reserved.
FREE TEXTBOOKS

  301.24  Petition — election.
  Whenever a petition signed by one hundred eligible electors residing in the school district or a number of eligible electors residing in the school district equal to at least ten percent of the number of voters in the last preceding regular school election, whichever is greater, is filed with the secretary sixty days or more before the regular school election, asking that the question of providing free textbooks for the use of pupils in the school district’s attendance centers be submitted to the voters at the next regular school election, the secretary shall cause notice of the proposition to be given in the notice of the election.
[C97, §2836; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4464; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.24]
2001 Acts, ch 56, §15; 2006 Acts, ch 1044, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §82

  301.25  Loaning books.
  If, at such election, a majority of the legal voters present and voting by ballot thereon shall authorize the board of directors of said school district to loan textbooks to the pupils free of charge, then the board shall procure such books as shall be needed, in the manner provided by law for the purchase of textbooks, and loan them to the pupils.
[C97, §2837; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4465; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.25]

  301.26  General regulations.
  The board shall hold pupils responsible for any damage to, loss of, or failure to return any such books, and shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be reasonable and necessary for the keeping and preservation thereof. Any pupil shall be allowed to purchase any textbook used in the school at cost. No pupil already supplied with textbooks shall be supplied with others without charge until needed.
[C97, §2837; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4466; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.26]

  301.27  Discontinuance of loaning.
  The electors may, at any election called as provided in section 301.24, direct the board to discontinue the loaning of textbooks to pupils.
[C97, §2837; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4467; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.27]

  301.28  Officers and teachers as agents for books and supplies — penalty.
  1.  A school district director, officer, or teacher shall not act as agent for school textbooks or school supplies, including sports apparel or equipment, in any transaction with a director, officer, or other staff member of the school district during such term of office or employment.
  2.  An area education agency director, officer, or teacher shall not act as an agent for school textbooks or school supplies, including sports apparel or equipment, in any transaction with a director, officer, or other staff member of the area education agency or any school district located within the area education agency during such time of office or employment.
  3.  A school district or area education agency director, officer, or teacher who acts as agent or dealer in school textbooks or school supplies during the person’s term of office or employment in violation of this section shall be deemed guilty of a serious misdemeanor.
[C97, §2834; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4468; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §301.28]
2009 Acts, ch 54, §12; 2010 Acts, ch 1069, §41
301.29 and 301.30Repealed by 2002 Acts, ch 1140, §44.