Chapter 232
2008 -- H 7848
SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/05/08
A N A C T
RELATING
TO EDUCATION -- LOAN OF TEXTBOOKS
Introduced
By: Representatives Walsh, McCauley, Serpa, Ajello, and Church
Date
Introduced: February 26, 2008
It is enacted by the General Assembly as
follows:
SECTION 1. Section
16-23-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-23 entitled "Textbooks"
is hereby amended to read as follows:
16-23-2.
Loan of textbooks. -- (a) The school committee of every community as it
is
defined in section 16-7-16 shall furnish upon
request, at the expense of the community, textbooks
to all students in grades K-12 in the fields of
mathematics, science, modern foreign languages,
English/language arts and history/social studies,
appearing on the list of textbooks published by
the commissioner of elementary and secondary
education as provided in section 16-23-3, to all
pupils of elementary and secondary school grades
resident in the community, the textbooks to be
loaned to the pupils free of charge, subject to
any rules and regulations as to care and custody that
the school committee may prescribe. For loan
purposes, non-public schools may not change a
textbook assignment in a field more often than
once in a three (3) year period as required of
public schools in accordance with the provisions
of section 16-23-1. Nothing in this section shall
be construed as forbidding non-public schools
from requiring the use of any textbook, consistent
with the provisions of this chapter, that does
not adhere to said limitation, provided that the
textbook is furnished to the student through a
means other than the school committee of the
student's city or town of residence.
(b) Every school
committee shall also furnish at the expense of the community all other
textbooks and school supplies used in the public
schools of the community, the other textbooks
and supplies to be loaned to the pupils of the
public schools free of charge, subject to any rules
and regulations as to care and custody that the
school committee may prescribe. School books
removed from school use may be distributed to
pupils, and any textbook may become the
property of a pupil who has completed the use of
it in school, subject to rules and regulations
prescribed by the school committee.
(c) Nothing in
this section shall be construed to forbid requiring or accepting from a
pupil a deposit of a reasonable amount of money
as a guaranty for the return of school property
other than the books and supplies required in
this section to be loaned free of charge, provided
that the school committee shall make suitable
rules and regulations for the safekeeping and return
of deposits; and, provided, further, that in
establishing schedules for deposits, the school
committee should include provision for waiver of
deposit due to financial hardship.
SECTION 2. This
act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.
=======
LC02248/SUB A
=======