(a) The commissioner of education shall determine the
number of review panels needed to review instructional materials under
consideration for adoption, the number of persons to serve on each
panel, and, subject to this section, the process for selecting panel
members.
(b) As determined by this section, panel members shall
serve with the advice and consent of the member from whose district
the panel member resides.
(c) The commissioner shall solicit nominations for
possible appointees to state review panels from the State Board of
Education (SBOE), school districts, open-enrollment charter schools,
and educational organizations in the state. Nominations may be accepted
from any Texas resident. Nominations shall not be made by or accepted
from any publishers; hardware or software providers; authors; depositories;
agents for publishers, hardware or software providers, authors, or
depositories; or any person who holds any official position with a
publisher, hardware or software provider, author, depository, or agent.
(d) A person nominated to serve on a state review panel
shall disclose in any nomination or application, in a manner designated
by the commissioner, his or her residence and whether currently or
at any time in the 36 months preceding the appointment the person:
(1) was employed by or received funds from any individual
or entity affiliated with a publishing company involved in or connected
to the adoption of instructional materials;
(2) owned or controlled any interest valued at more
than $5,000 in a privately owned publishing company or an entity receiving
funds from a publishing company involved in or connected to the adoption
of instructional materials or had direct ownership of stock of a publicly
traded company involved in or connected to the adoption of instructional
materials; or
(3) was employed by an institution of higher education
that has submitted open education resource instructional materials
or is a publisher of instructional materials.
(e) The commissioner shall propose appointments to
state review panels that, to the extent possible, as determined by
the commissioner, include the following:
(1) individuals nominated by SBOE members;
(2) individuals representing a diverse mixture of gender,
race, and SBOE districts;
(3) a majority of members with content expertise and
experience;
(4) academic experts in each subject area for which
instructional materials are being considered, giving priority to content-relevant
educators and professors; and
(5) educators, parents, business and industry representatives,
and employers.
(f) For purposes of this section, an "academic expert"
is a person who:
(1) is a public-school teacher with at least ten years
of classroom teaching experience; or
(2) has at least a master's degree in the subject area;
or
(3) is a professor at an accredited four-year institution
of higher education in Texas.
(g) The commissioner shall notify the SBOE of the proposed
appointments. The commissioner shall assign each appointee to the
SBOE district in which he or she resides.
(h) An SBOE member may reject the proposed appointment
of a panel member representing that member's SBOE district by notifying
the commissioner via electronic mail within five business days of
receiving the proposed appointment list. Failure to reject a proposed
appointment within five business days constitutes consent for the
appointment.
(i) After close of the five-business-day period under
subsection (h) of this section, the commissioner may propose additional
members if necessary. The commissioner shall provide to the SBOE member
who represents the district of residence for each additional proposed
panel member the opportunity for review of additional members in accordance
with the time period and rejection rules under subsection (h) of this
section. The SBOE shall be notified of finalized appointments made
by the commissioner to state review panels. The final list of appointees,
their roles, and who nominated them shall be given to each member
of the SBOE no later than the first public meeting following the finalization
of the panels.
(j) The commissioner shall inform nominees who are
not appointed to a state review panel that all members of the public
may review instructional materials and give input during the public
comment period.
(k) The role of each appointee shall be designated
by the commissioner and disclosed to all appointees on each panel.
(l) Members of a state review panel may be removed
at the discretion of the commissioner at any time prior to the completion
of the review.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §66.30 adopted to be effective September 1, 1996, 21 TexReg 7236; amended to be effective February 22, 2010, 35 TexReg 1454; amended to be effective May 21, 2014, 39 TexReg 3855; amended to be effective May 5, 2016, 41 TexReg 3137; amended to be effective March 27, 2018, 43 TexReg 1846; amended to be effective March 24, 2020, 45 TexReg 1989 |