April 2017 Committee on Instruction Item 6

Consideration of Penalties Related to Instructional Materials Contracts

April 21, 2017

COMMITTEE ON INSTRUCTION: ACTION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: CONSENT

SUMMARY: This item provides an opportunity for the State Board of Education (SBOE) to consider imposing a penalty on a publisher of instructional materials for failure to provide the materials to districts as required by its contract.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Texas Education Code (TEC), §31.151.

TEC, §31.151(a), defines the duties of publishers and manufacturers of instructional materials, including the duty to deliver materials to school districts or charter schools and to provide an accurate shipping date for materials that are back-ordered.

TEC, §31.151(b), authorizes the SBOE to impose a reasonable administrative penalty against a publisher who knowingly violates subsection (a).

PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: Two AlbaCorps Publishing (a dba of Urban OnLine, Inc.) products were adopted by the SBOE in November 2013 under Proclamation 2014: Technology Applications: Student Edition Digital Interactive (for kindergarten and grades 1 and 2) and Technology Applications: Computer Mastery Student Edition (for grades 6–8).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES: Since the time of adoption, AlbaCorps Publishing has fulfilled only one district order for instructional materials. Seven additional orders for those materials have been placed over the past three school years and have not been filled by the publisher. Due to the failure of the publisher to fulfill its contractual obligations, the contract is being terminated.

The SBOE last imposed a penalty on a publisher in September 2010 for failure to correct errors in products adopted under Proclamation 2004.

FISCAL IMPACT: If the SBOE opts to exercise its authority to impose a penalty, the resulting funds would go into the instructional materials fund.

PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT: A penalty imposed for failure to fulfill contractual agreement could act as an incentive for other publishers to meet the terms and conditions of instructional materials contracts.

PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS: None.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None.

OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES: None.

Staff Members Responsible:
Monica Martinez, Associate Commissioner
Standards and Support Services

Kelly Callaway, Senior Director
Instructional Materials

Attachment:
Statutory Citation (PDF, 21KB)

Separate Exhibit:
List of Unfulfilled Orders
(to be provided at the April 2017 SBOE meeting)