SENATE, No. 2978
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
Senator SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires DOE to maintain list of textbook vendors that use inclusive material and school districts to use textbooks from those vendors.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Education Committee on October 18, 2018, with amendments.
An Act concerning textbooks used in public schools and supplementing chapter 34 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
“Inclusive material” means content in a textbook that 1[reflects diversity in various categories including] accurately portrays the diversity of our society, in such areas as1 gender, race, ethnicity, 1disability, gender identity or expression,1 and sexual orientation.
“Textbook” means books, workbooks, or manuals, whether bound or in looseleaf form, or electronic textbooks, intended as the principal source of study material for a given class.
b. The Department of Education shall develop and maintain a list of textbook vendors that incorporate inclusive material in their textbooks. The list shall be distributed to school districts and shall be made publicly available on the department’s website. Following the effective date of this act, when a school district determines to acquire a new textbook, the district shall select the textbook from a vendor that is included on the department’s list.
c. Notwithstanding subsection b. of this section, a school district may propose to the Commissioner of Education a textbook vendor that is not currently on the list maintained by the department, and may acquire and use textbooks from that vendor upon the approval of the commissioner.
d. The provisions of this section shall not apply to textbooks acquired by a school district using the Statewide textbook bank created pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2002, c.98 (C.18A:34-3) 1or to textbooks that require replacement due to damage or loss1.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the 1[seventh] nineteenth1 month next following the date of enactment.