(1) PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.—The State Board of Education shall adopt rules prescribing the procedures by which the department shall evaluate instructional materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each adoption. Included in these procedures shall be provisions affording each publisher or manufacturer or his or her representative an opportunity to provide a virtual presentation to state instructional materials reviewers on the merits of each instructional material submitted in each adoption.
(2) SELECTION AND ADOPTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.—(a) The department shall notify all publishers and manufacturers of instructional materials who have submitted bids that within 3 weeks after the deadline for receiving bids, at a designated time and place, it will open the bids submitted and deposited with it. At the time and place designated, the bids shall be opened, read, and tabulated in the presence of the bidders or their representatives. No one may revise his or her bid after the bids have been filed. When all bids have been carefully considered, the commissioner shall, from the list of suitable, usable, and desirable instructional materials reported by the state instructional materials reviewers, select and adopt instructional materials for each grade and subject field in the curriculum of public elementary, middle, and high schools in which adoptions are made and in the subject areas designated in the advertisement. The adoption shall continue for the period specified in the advertisement, beginning on the ensuing April 1. The adoption shall not prevent the extension of a contract as provided in subsection (3). The commissioner shall always reserve the right to reject any and all bids. The commissioner may ask for new sealed bids from publishers or manufacturers whose instructional materials were recommended by the state instructional materials reviewers as suitable, usable, and desirable; specify the dates for filing such bids and the date on which they shall be opened; and proceed in all matters regarding the opening of bids and the awarding of contracts as required by this part. In all cases, bids shall be accompanied by a cash deposit or certified check of from $500 to $2,500, as the department may direct. The department, in adopting instructional materials, shall give due consideration both to the prices bid for furnishing instructional materials and to the report and recommendations of the state instructional materials reviewers. When the commissioner has finished with the report of the state instructional materials reviewers, the report shall be filed and preserved with the department and shall be available at all times for public inspection.
(b) In the selection of instructional materials, library media, and other reading material used in the public school system, the standards used to determine the propriety of the material shall include:1. The age of the students who normally could be expected to have access to the material.
2. The educational purpose to be served by the material. Priority shall be given to the selection of materials that align with the state academic standards as provided for in s. 1003.41 and include the instructional objectives contained within the curriculum frameworks for career and technical education and adult and adult general education adopted by rule of the State Board of Education under s. 1004.92. 3. The degree to which the material would be supplemented and explained by mature classroom instruction as part of a normal classroom instructional program.
4. The consideration of the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the students of this state.
Any instructional material containing pornography or otherwise prohibited by s. 847.012 may not be used or made available within any public school.
(3) CONTRACT WITH PUBLISHERS OR MANUFACTURERS; BOND.—As soon as practicable after the commissioner has adopted any instructional materials and all bidders that have secured the adoption of any instructional materials have been notified thereof by registered letter, the department shall prepare a contract in proper form with every bidder awarded the adoption of any instructional materials. Each contract shall be executed by the commissioner, one copy to be kept by the contractor and one copy to be filed with the department. After giving due consideration to comments by the district school boards, the commissioner, with the agreement of the publisher, may extend or shorten a contract period for a period not to exceed 2 years; and the terms of any such contract shall remain the same as in the original contract. Any publisher or manufacturer to whom any contract is let under this part must give bond in such amount as the department requires, payable to the state, conditioned for the faithful, honest, and exact performance of the contract. The bond must provide for the payment of reasonable attorney’s fees in case of recovery in any suit thereon. The surety on the bond must be a guaranty or surety company lawfully authorized to do business in the state; however, the bond shall not be exhausted by a single recovery but may be sued upon from time to time until the full amount thereof is recovered, and the department may at any time, after giving 30 days’ notice, require additional security or additional bond. The form of any bond or bonds or contract or contracts under this part shall be prepared and approved by the department. At the discretion of the department, a publisher or manufacturer to whom any contract is let under this part may be allowed a cash deposit in lieu of a bond, conditioned for the faithful, honest, and exact performance of the contract. The cash deposit, payable to the department, shall be placed in the Textbook Bid Trust Fund. The department may recover damages on the cash deposit given by the contractor for failure to furnish instructional materials, the sum recovered to inure to the General Revenue Fund.
(4) REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE CONTRACT.—The department may, from time to time, take any necessary actions, consistent with this part, to secure the prompt and faithful performance of all instructional materials contracts; and if any contractor fails or refuses to furnish instructional materials as provided in this part or otherwise breaks his or her contract, the department may sue on the required bond in the name of the state, in the courts of the state having jurisdiction, and recover damages on the bond given by the contractor for failure to furnish instructional materials, the sum recovered to inure to the General Revenue Fund.
(5) RETURN OF DEPOSITS.—(a) The successful bidder shall be notified by registered mail of the award of contract and shall, within 30 days after receipt of the contract, execute the proper contract and post the required bond. When the bond and contract have been executed, the department shall notify the Chief Financial Officer and request that a warrant be issued against the Textbook Bid Trust Fund payable to the successful bidder in the amount deposited pursuant to this part. The Chief Financial Officer shall issue and forward the warrant to the department for distribution to the bidder.
(b) At the same time or prior thereto, the department shall inform the Chief Financial Officer of the names of the unsuccessful bidders. Upon receipt of such notice, the Chief Financial Officer shall issue warrants against the Textbook Bid Trust Fund payable to the unsuccessful bidders in the amounts deposited pursuant to this part and shall forward the warrants to the department for distribution to the unsuccessful bidders.
(c) One copy of each contract and an original of each bid, whether accepted or rejected, shall be preserved with the department for at least 3 years after the termination of the contract.
(6) DEPOSITS FORFEITED.—If any successful bidder fails or refuses to execute contract and bond within 30 days after receipt of the contract, the cash deposit shall be forfeited to the state and placed by the Chief Financial Officer in the General Revenue Fund.
(7) FORFEITURE OF CONTRACT AND BOND.—If any publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials fails or refuses to furnish instructional materials as provided in the contract, the publisher’s or manufacturer’s bond is forfeited and the commissioner must make another contract.
