Digital Education Materials

A public school contracting entity (entity) that executes enters into a contract or renews a contract on or after July 1, 2024, with a vendor or provider of a curated digital research collection (collection) shall include in the terms of the contract a termination clause stating that the contract is materially breached and grounds for termination exist if on 3 separate occasions, a collection is found to have advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs that contain material that is harmful to students or direct students to material that is harmful to students. A public school employee, contractor, or volunteer shall report, and students, parents, guardians, legal custodians, or community members (interested parties) may report, the material that is harmful to students to the entity. The report must include the name of the digital collection and the title of the document, the reference number, or keywords used to access the collection. The entity shall notify the vendor or provider and the department of education (department) of each reported incident. The vendor or provider must remove the material that is harmful to students within 3 business days after receiving notice. the collection contains advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs. All vendors must certify that collections are free of advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs. If a vendor violates the terms of the contract, the entity is entitled to reimbursement and may pursue remedies for breach of contract. The bill requires public schools to annually notify interested parties of the reporting procedures. Public schools may include information on their websites regarding how to make a report. If a public school contracts or enters into an agreement with a public library that promotes a collection, the public school shall annually disclose the details of the contract or agreement by e-mail to the local school district board of education and parents, guardians, or legal custodians of students enrolled in the public school. If any material changes to the contract occur, the public school shall send an e-mail notification to the local school district board of education, parents, guardians, or legal custodians of students enrolled in the school. The department is required to annually report to the general assembly on the number of reports that occur each year. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)