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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Rainaldi

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-18-2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Require Provision of Student Textbooks

SB 1019

ANALYST Dearing

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

*NFI

*Please see narrative

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1019 carries no appropriation. Senate Bill 1019 amends the Section 22-15-9, NMSA,

1978, Distribution of Funds for Instructional Material, such that prior to the last funds

distribution to districts for instructional materials, the districts are required to have in place a

policy mandating textbooks for all necessary classes, and provides for the students to take these

home from school.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The FY08 LFC recommendation for the instructional materials fund included $37.2 million for

the purchase of instructional materials. This is a recurring item, however the level varies from

year to year. Enactment of Senate Bill 1019 would require districts to use funding provided

through the distribution for instructional materials such that all students were provided texts.

Passage of the act would most likely result in the necessity of districts setting purchasing

priorities for instructional materials, possibly altering current curricula (media-type) choices.

The bill would most likely require districts to purchase more durable text materials, relying less

Senate Bill 1019 – Page

2

on supplementary materials and other contemporary media.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to the Office of Educational Accountability (OEA):

[“textbooks are one form of instructional materials that can be purchased with the state

distribution of instructional material funds. 22-15-2 NMSA 1978 defines instructional material as

“school textbooks and other educational media that are used as the basis for instruction,

including combinations of textbooks, learning kits, supplementary material and electronic

media". Because districts have the flexibility to utilize their instructional materials dollars, not all

districts buy a textbook for every student. It may be argued that some teachers choose not to use

textbooks and prefer supplemental materials to teach New Mexico standards."]

The effects on student learning outcomes through student home-access to traditional texts versus

the adoption of contemporary supplemental materials has not been provided by the OEA.

However, the OEA has provided results of a national a study conducted by the National

Education Association (NEA) (2002) regarding instructional material use by teachers reporting

the following:

•

Nationally, responding teachers said that they use textbooks as a reference tool for students,

as a supplement for planning lessons, and for homework assignments.

•

One out of every six teachers who use textbooks in class report that they do not have enough

textbooks for every student to use in the classroom. Twenty-nine percent of respondents

report that they do not have enough textbooks so that every student can take one home.

•

When it comes to the availability of textbooks, there appears to be an economic divide.

Teachers in urban districts are twice as likely as teachers in rural areas and small towns to

report an inadequate supply of textbooks. Similarly, those who teach students of lower socio-

economic levels and those who teach primarily minority students are almost twice as likely to

report an inadequate supply of textbooks.

•

Finally, many textbook become outdated quickly, teachers who use textbooks report having

to do additional work updating content so that students are not exposed to incorrect

information.

Currently textbook adoption for identified subject areas are on a 6-year cycle (School Year 2007

– Mathematics and the Arts), if Senate Bill 1019 is passed language requiring every student be

provided a textbook could create a funding and materials prioritization challenge for districts.

PD/csd