60240-60252
EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 60240-60252
60240. (a) The State Instructional Materials Fund is hereby continued in existence in the State Treasury. The fund shall be a means of annually funding the acquisition of instructional materials as required by the Constitution of the State of California. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the State Department of Education without regard to fiscal years for carrying out the purposes of this part. It is the intent of the Legislature that the fund shall provide for flexibility of instructional materials, including classroom library materials. (b) The State Department of Education shall administer the fund under policies established by the state board. (c) (1) The state board shall encumber part of the fund to pay for accessible instructional materials pursuant to Sections 60312 and 60313 to accommodate pupils who are visually impaired or have other disabilities and are unable to access the general curriculum. (2) The state board may encumber funds, in an amount not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), for replacement of instructional materials, obtained by a school district with its allowance that are lost or destroyed by reason of fire, theft, natural disaster, or vandalism. (3) The state board may encumber funds for the costs of warehousing and transporting instructional materials it has acquired. (d) The department may expend up to five million dollars ($5,000,000) from the fund to acquire instructional materials for school districts pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 1240. The fund shall be replenished by amounts repaid by school districts or deducted from apportionments to school districts by the Controller pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 1240. 60242. (a) The state board shall encumber the fund for the purpose of establishing an allowance for each school district, which may reflect increases or decreases in enrollment, that the district may use for the following purposes: (1) To purchase instructional materials adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 60200 for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, or by the governing board pursuant to Section 60400 for grades 9 to 12, inclusive. A school district may purchase with funds received pursuant to Chapter 3.25 (commencing with Section 60420) instructional materials for the visual and performing arts, foreign language, health, or other curricular area if those materials are adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 60200 for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, or by the governing board pursuant to Section 60400 for grades 9 to 12, inclusive, and if the school district certifies that it has provided each pupil with a standards-aligned textbook or basic instructional materials in reading/language arts, mathematics, history/social science, and science. (2) To purchase, at the discretion of the district, instructional materials, including, but not limited to, supplementary instructional materials and technology-based materials, from any source. (3) To purchase tests. (4) To bind basic textbooks that are otherwise usable and are on the most recent list of basic instructional materials adopted by the State Board and made available pursuant to Section 60200. (5) To fund in-service training related to instructional materials. (6) To purchase classroom library materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 4, inclusive. (b) The state board shall specify the percentage of the allowance of a district that is authorized to be used for each of the purposes identified in subdivision (a). (c) Allowances established for school districts pursuant to this section shall be apportioned in September of each fiscal year. (d) (1) A school district that purchases classroom library materials, as a condition of receiving funding pursuant to this article, shall develop a districtwide classroom library plan for kindergarten and grades 1 to 4, inclusive, and shall receive certification of the plan from the governing board of the school district. A school district shall include in the plan a means of preventing loss, damage, or destruction of the materials. (2) In developing the plan required by paragraph (1), a school district is encouraged to consult with school teacher librarians and primary grade teachers and to consider selections included in the list of recommended books established pursuant to Section 19336. If a school teacher librarian is not employed by the school district, the district is encouraged to consult with a school teacher librarian employed by the local county office of education in developing the plan. (3) To the extent that a school district or county office of education already has a plan meeting the criteria specified in paragraphs (1) and (2), no new plan is required to establish eligibility. 60242.5. Allowances received by districts pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 60242 shall be deposited into a separate account as specified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. These allowances, including any interest generated by them, shall be used only for the purchase of instructional materials, tests, classroom library materials, or in-service training pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 60242. Interest posted to the account shall be based upon reasonable estimates of monthly balances in the account and the average rate of interest earned by other funds of the district. All purchases of instructional materials made with funds from this account shall conform to law and the applicable rules and regulations adopted by the state board, and the district superintendent shall provide written assurance of conformance to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may withhold the allowance established pursuant to Section 60242 for any district which has failed to file a written assurance for the prior fiscal year. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may restore the amount withheld once the district provides the written assurance. The Controller, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, shall include procedures to review compliance with this section in its independent audit instructions. 60245. The fiscal yearend unexpended balance of any cash allotment of any district board shall be separately encumbered for the district board and shall be separately carried over into the subsequent fiscal year for their respective uses by the district board. 60246.5. (a) The Controller shall, during each fiscal year, commencing with the 2002-03 fiscal year, transfer from the General Fund to the State Instructional Materials Fund for instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, the amount to be allocated pursuant to Section 60421. (b) The amount transferred pursuant to subdivision (a) includes the designated percentage of the cash entitlements to be used to pay for unadopted state materials, tests, classroom library materials, and in-service training. 60247.5. The Controller shall, during each fiscal year, commencing with the 2002-03 fiscal year, transfer from the General Fund to the State Instructional Materials Fund for instructional materials for grades 9 to 12, inclusive, the amount to be allocated pursuant to Section 60421. 60248. The governing board of a school district shall use the funds apportioned pursuant to Sections 60247 and 60247.5 solely for the purchase of instructional materials for pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive. Textbooks purchased with these funds shall be adopted in accordance with Section 60400. 60251. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may allocate to school districts, funds which were recovered from publishers and deposited into the Instructional Materials Fund as result of proceedings against the publishers. 60251.5. For any fiscal year in which the amount of the moneys appropriated to the State Instructional Materials Fund exceeds the sum of the amount that was appropriated to that fund in the prior fiscal year plus any amounts appropriated in the current fiscal year for instructional materials pursuant to Section 42238.15, an amount that is not less than 50 percent of the difference shall be transferred to the Pupil Textbook and Instructional Materials Incentive Account that exists in the State Instructional Materials Fund. 60252. (a) The Pupil Textbook and Instructional Materials Incentive Account is hereby created in the State Instructional Materials Fund, to be used for the Pupil Textbook and Instructional Materials Incentive Program set forth in Article 7 (commencing with Section 60117) of Chapter 1. All money in the account shall be allocated by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to school districts maintaining any kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that satisfy each of the following criteria: (1) A school district shall provide assurance to the Superintendent of Public Instruction that the district has complied with Section 60119. (2) A school district shall ensure that the money will be used to carry out its compliance with Section 60119 and shall supplement any state and local money that is expended on textbooks or instructional materials, or both. (3) A school district shall ensure that textbooks and instructional materials are ordered, to the extent practicable, before the school year begins. (b) The superintendent shall ensure that each school district has an opportunity for funding per pupil based upon the district's prior year base revenue limit in relation to the prior year statewide average base revenue limit for similar types and sizes of districts. Districts below the statewide average shall receive a greater percentage of state funds, and districts above the statewide average shall receive a smaller percentage of state funds, in an amount equal to the percentage that the district's base revenue limit varies from the statewide average. Any district with a base revenue limit that equals or exceeds 200 percent of the statewide average shall not be eligible for state funding under this section.