Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0823 Page: 4 of 9
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(GA-0823)
Ms. Gail Lowe - Page 4
C. Materials that Do Not Cover Entire State Curriculum as Classroom Set
Your third question asks whether a school district or open-enrollment charter school may
"satisfy the requirement of Section 31.101(c-1) by purchasing a classroom set of materials" adopted
by the Board that does not cover the entire state curriculum[.]"' Request Letter at 3 (footnotes added).
By its terms, section 31.101(c-1) provides that a classroom set of textbooks consists of
"textbooks adopted by the State Board of Education under Section 31.023 or 31.035." TEX. EDUC.
CODE ANN. 31.101(c-1) (West Supp. 2010). Section 31.023 provides for the adoption of textbooks
placed on either a conforming or nonconforming list. Id. 31.023(a). Textbooks on the
nonconforming list "contain[] material covering at least half, but not all, of the elements of the
essential knowledge and skills of the subject and grade level in the student version of the textbook."
Id. 31.023(a)(2). Thus, a classroom set of textbooks could, by the express terms of section 31.101
(c-1), include textbooks on the nonconforming list which do not, as you describe it, cover the entire
state curriculum.
D. Student's Ability to Take Home Textbooks
Your fourth question is whether "[s]ubsection 26.006(c) entitles a student to take a textbook
home at the request of a parent if a copy of the textbook is 'available' " and whether such entitlement
extends to a textbook that is part of a classroom set. Request Letter at 4. Subsection 26.006(c)
provides that
[a] student's parent is entitled to request that the school district or
open-enrollment charter school the student attends allow the student to
take home any textbook used by the student. Subject to the availability
of a textbook, the district or school shall honor the request. ... In this
subsection, "textbook" has the meaning assigned by Section 31.002.
TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 26.006(c) (West 2006) (emphasis added).
8We understand your reference to "a classroom set of materials" to mean a classroom set of textbooks under
section 31.101(c- 1). See Request Letter at 2 (telling us that your first four questions relate to the meaning of "classroom
set of textbooks" in section 31.101(c-1)); see also TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 31.002(3) (West Supp. 2010) (defining
"textbook" to include certain materials).
'We do not find the term "state curriculum" in chapter 31 but understand you to mean the elements of the
essential knowledge and skills of the subject and grade level in the student version of the textbook. See, e.g., Request
Letter at 3 n. 13 ("Section 31.023 of the Education Code provides for a 'conforming list' of textbooks that cover all the
elements of the state curriculum and a 'nonconforming list' whose textbooks cover at least one-half of those elements.");
see also TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. 28.002 (West Supp. 2010) (setting out required curriculum), 32.254(c) (providing
that certain classes "must be aligned with state curriculum requirements under Section 28.002 and the essential
knowledge and skills identified under that section"); 19 TEX. ADMIN. CODE 228.2(20) (2010) (defining the "Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills" as "[t]he Kindergarten-Grade 12 state curriculum in Texas adopted by the State Board
of Education and used as the foundation of all state certification examinations").
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0823, text, December 1, 2010; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275719/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.