15-721. Common schools; course of study; textbooks; definition

A. The governing board shall approve for common schools the course of study, the basic textbook for each course and all units recommended for credit under each general subject title prior to implementation of the course.

B. If any course does not include a basic textbook, the governing board shall approve all supplemental books used in the course prior to approval of the course.

C. If any course includes a basic textbook and uses supplemental books, the governing board may approve all supplemental books and teaching aids, including instructional computer software, that are used in the course prior to approval of the course.

D. If the course includes a basic textbook and uses supplemental books that have not been approved by the governing board at the time of approval of the course, a teacher may use the supplemental books at any time during the school year. Use of the supplemental books shall be brought to the attention of the governing board during the school year in which they are added for ratification.

E. Notwithstanding any other law, subsections B and C do not apply to supplemental books used in courses or programs instituted pursuant to article 4 of this chapter.

F. The governing board shall:

1. Enforce the course of study and select all textbooks used in the common schools and purchase the textbooks from the publishers. District school funds may be budgeted and expended by the governing board for teaching aids, including instructional computer software. For courses that do not require that each student have a textbook other than for classroom instruction, the school district need only purchase one textbook for each student in the largest group that would be receiving classroom instruction at any one time.

2. Require that all meetings of committees authorized for the purposes of textbook review and selection be open to the public as prescribed in title 38, chapter 3, article 3.1.

3. Make available at the school district office for review by the public, for a period of sixty days prior to formal selection of textbooks, a copy of each textbook that is being considered for selection.

G. For the purposes of this section, " textbook" means printed instructional materials or digital content, or both, and related printed or nonprinted instructional materials, that are written and published primarily for use in school instruction and that are required by a state educational agency or a local educational agency for use by pupils in the classroom, including materials that require the availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning resource.