Free Instructional Materials Offerings Letter

April 23, 2012

Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Clarification Of The Requirements For Free Instructional Materials Offerings

Publishers of state-adopted instructional materials have an obligation, pursuant to Education Code (EC) Section 60061(a)(3), to “Provide any instructional materials free of charge in this state to the same extent as that received by any state or school district in the United States.” The California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR) Section 9527 directs publishers to provide a Web listing of their free offerings to meet the requirements of EC 60061.

It has come to our attention that there are some issues with the current lists of free offerings that are available to local educational agencies (LEAs) that purchase programs currently adopted in California. A number of the links on our Price List of Adopted Instructional Materials Web page (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/intro-plsearch.asp) do not direct to current Web pages, or take the user only to the publisher’s general Web site. We have asked publishers of currently state-adopted instructional materials programs that those pages of free offerings be kept current and that they notify the California Department of Education (CDE) immediately when changes are made.

We have also been informed that a number of publishers have items on their lists of free offerings that are listed as, “for the life of the adoption.” In particular, several publishers have included on their free lists the offer of free consumable materials that would be provided for the life of the adoption. Please be advised that with the passage of Assembly Bill 2272 adoptions remain in effect until the State Board of Education (SBE) acts on a subsequent adoption in that subject area (See EC Section 60200(i)).

Prior to the passage of AB 2272, the expiration date of adoptions was specifically set by the SBE with each adoption. For example, the ending date of the 2005 History–Social Science Primary Adoption was established in the Publishers Invitation to Submit document as June 30, 2012. As a result of the passage of AB 2722, that 2005 list will now remain in effect until the next primary adoption is completed in that subject, which will occur no earlier than July 1, 2015 pursuant to current law. (See EC Section 60200.7).

As a result of this change in the law, publishers that do not intend to offer free materials through the extended term of current state adoptions have been advised to immediately update their online lists of free materials and notify the CDE at once of any changes.

If you have any questions regarding the information in this letter, please contact Cliff Rudnick, Administrator, Instructional Resources Unit, at 916-319-0736 [The preceding phone number is no longer valid] or by e-mail at crudnick@cde.ca.gov [The preceding email is no longer valid].

Sincerely,

 

Lupita Cortez Alcalá, Deputy Superintendent
Instruction and Learning Support Branch

LCA:km

cc:  Michael Kirst, President, State Board of Education
       Dale Shimasaki, Association of American Publishers