ACCURACY IN TEXTBOOKS RESOLUTION

Be it resolved by  __________________________________________________________

to urge legislation at the state level to promote accuracy in textbooks and other instructional materials with the following policies:

A.  requiring all publishers of textbooks and instructional materials for use in any public school in the state to provide a warranty on accuracy regardless of whether or not they are adopted by the state government,

B.  requiring that all textbooks and instructional materials include a notice of an appropriate state government office address, phone number, and e-mail address to which complaints of inaccuracies can be lodged by any individual,

C.  requiring the appropriate state government office to determine if the complaint is valid within a specified time period, such as 90 days, allowing for the solicitation of comments via a website and other notification to the public about the specific complaints, with all such complaints, comments, and determinations being public records,

D.  requiring that for all inaccuracies the publisher would at its own expense need to supply to school districts errata sheets and paste-over labels to be inserted into all the affected textbooks and instructional materials that have been sold within the state,

E.  requiring all school districts to use the errata sheets and paste-over labels to correct all affected textbooks and other instructional materials, such that the errors are corrected directly on all the affected pages by paste-over labels, pen-and-ink, or other means,

F.  requiring that, immediately following the adoption of each textbook and other instructional material at the state level, or the purchase of a non-adopted textbook or instructional material by any school district, such textbook or other instructional material be posted in its entirety on a website for public review for the entire time it is offered for sale in the state,

G. allowing any school district to correct errors in textbooks and other instructional materials whether or not the state government office has issued any determination on the error.

H. allowing any school district to encourage the correction of errors by soliciting detection of errors by teachers, students, parents, administrators, librarians, staff, and the general public, with such solicitation allowable as part of job descriptions.

A copy of this resolution shall be sent to the following officials, and shall be followed up for a positive response:

 (1) the appropriate committees of the Assembly and Senate

 (2) the local Assemblymember(s) and Senator(s)

 (3) the Governor

 (4) the State Superintendent of Public Instruction

 (5) the Secretary for Education

 (6) the State Board of Education

 (7) other school districts

 (8) organizations of school districts and school board members

             (9) organizations of teachers and of parents