.’
R-980
OFFICE OF’
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
AUSTIN. TEXAS
PRICE DANIEL December 23, 1947
ATTORNEYGENERAL
Honorable L. A. Woods Opinion No. V-465
State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Re: Authority of State Board of
Department of Education Education to adopt “consum-
Austin, ~Texas able” textbooks.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of recent date inquiring as to the legality
of awards of contracts by the State Board of Education for -consum-
able” textbooks~ reads, in part, as follows:
“In recent years several contracts have been
awarded for textbooks which are in the general classi-
fication of workbooks and which are used up each year
or each half year. For the most part such books are
used by the pupils in the pre-primer and primer lev-
els of the first grade although there is a growing ten-
dency to extend upward such adoptions. There are now
in existence contracts on worktype books in the pre-
primer, primer, first, and second grade levels.
“Contracts on worktype books are very expen-
sive since a complete supply must be purchased an-
nually; and because of the very nature’of such books,
they are more expensive to produce than traditional
types of textbooks.
*
. . . .
“At the recent textbook adoption, a contract was
awarded for consumable textbooks in Handwriting for
grades one and two. The contract period on this par-
ticular award was fixed at six years. This means that
for the two grades involved the State must purchase a
complete set of new Handwriting books for each of the
six years, or approximately two million copies at
$0.195 per copy. For all other grades the traditional
type copybooks for Handwritfng were adopted, and al-
though they are paper-bound, records of the past years
indicate that they will last three or more years. The
contract period on these books was for six years also,
and the State will probably have to buy for grades three,
Honorable L. A. Woods, Page 2 (V-465)
four, five, six, seven, and eight approximately two
million copies only at $0.11 each. The purchase of
consumable type books on this basis in Handwriting
for grades one and two will cost more than five times
as much as traditional type books would cost.
‘Please give me the benefit of your opinion con-
cerning the following question :
“Is it legal for the State Board of Education
to award contracts on consumable textbooks,
in Handwriting for grades one and two? *
Article 2842, V.C.S., provides:
“It shall be the duty of the State Board of Edu-
cation . . . to meet . . . for the purpose of considering
the advisability of continuing or discontinuing, at the
expiration of each current contract, any and all of the
State adopted textbooks if used in the public schools
of Texas, and of making such adoptions as are pro-
vided for in Articles 2843, 2844, and 2844a, Revised
Civil Statutes, 1925, as amended. Before making any
change in the adopted series, however, the State Board
of Education shall, upon thorough investigation, satisfy
itself that a change is necessary for the best i&Z
of the school children and that such change is consistent
with financial economy. Provided, that unless new texts
better suited to the requirements of the school’and at a
price and quality satisfactory to the Board are offered
to supplant existing texts, then the Board shall renew the
existing contracts for such a period as may be deemed
advisable not to exceed a period of six (6) years. . .
Provided further that before the Board shall determine
to displace any book upon which the contract is expiring,
it shall, before making a new contract for a new text,
ascertain through the office of the State Superintendent
of Public Instruction the number of usable books of the
kind on which the contract has, or is about to expire,
there are on hand, and also the estimated number of
such books that would be required to supply the needs
of the Schools of the State using said books for the first,
second, and third years immediately succeeding the ex-
piration of the contract on said books . . . If, upon con-
sideration of the cost of the books required to supply
such needs for such a period, hit appears to the Board
that it will be economical to do so, it may make a con-
tract with such publisher to furnish such books during
said first, second year or third year period with a view
Honorable L. Ai Woods, Page 3 (V-465)
to using, up the entire supply of such books on hand
instead of wasting the same at the expiration of the
original contract. At the expiration of such period,
the Board....hall then make a contract for a textbook
‘!~on the subject . . . The series of copy books and
series of drawing books shall each be considered as
one book. . .”
Article 2843, V.C.S., as amended by Senate Bill No. 215,
50th Legislature,.&gular Session, Acts 1947, reads, in part, as fol-
lows:
‘The Textbook Co-ission (State Board of
Education) authorized’by this Act shall have author-
ityto select and adopt a uniform system on textbooks
to be used in the public free schools of Texas, and the
book6 60 selected and adopted shall be printed in the
English language, and shall include and be limited to
textbooks on the following 6ubjeCt6: Spelling, reading,
. a system of writing books, a system of drawing
books, . . .”
Article 2848, V.C.S., provides:
Y. . . The textbooks shall ,be selected and adopt-
ed after a careiul examination and consideration of
all books presented, and the books selected and adopt-
ed shall b6 those Wfiidi, in the opinion of the c.o~is-
sion, are most acceptable in the schools-quality, me-
chanical~constructfon, paper, print, price, authorship,
literary merits and other relevant matters being given
such weight in making its decision as the Commission
may deem advisable . . . no textbook shall be adopted
until it ha6 been read carefully and examined by at
least a majority of the Commissron.” (Kmpha616 in
above quotatrons ours).
Ar&e 2048, V.&i., vests the State Board of Education
with final discretionary &uthor,ity to select and adopt those textbook6
authorized by statute which, in the opinion of the Board, are most ac-
ceptable in the schools, the cost or price thereof being given such
weight in making its decision as the Board may deem advisable.
Likewise, as to previously adopted textbooks on any subject,
the Board is further authorized under Article 2842, V.C,S., to make a
change provided it satisfies itself “that a change is necessary for the
best intere6t of the school children and that such change is consistent
with financial economy.” Indeed, “unless new text6 better suited to
the requirement6 of the school and at a price and quality satisfactory
Honorable L. A. Woods, Page 4 (V-465)
to the Board are offered to supplant existing texts,” the statute pro-
vides that the Board shall renew the existing contracts.
Presumably, the Board in adopting a new textbook in
Handwriting, referred to in your letter a6 being in the ‘consumable*
form rather than in the traditional copy book form, has determined
that this Handwriting book adopted is the most acceptable in the schools
and that it is best suited for the requirements of the school or classes
involved, the matter of price and replacement having been fully con-
sidered.
We find no statutory requirement that limits the Board in
its adoption or readoption of textbooks in respect to the selection of
text6 of the traditional type. It is true, the Legislature has wisely
stressed financial economy in the matter of adoption of textbooks and
has provided a procedure to avoid waste, requiring the using up of
those textbook6 to be supplanted with new adoptions. The primary
duty of the Board of Education in this matter is to select and adopt
such texts a6 should be for the best interest of the school children
of Texas.
Accordingly, we an6wer your submitted question in the
affirmative.
SUMMARY
Acting under and by virtue of the provisions of
Article 2842, 2843 and 2848, V.C..S., the State Board
of Education may legally award contracts on consumable
textbooks in Handwriting for grade6 one and two.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEYGENERALOFTEXAS
Chester E. Ollison
Assistant
CEO/mw/JCP
APPROVED :