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Amend HB 3526 (senate committee printing) as follows:
(1) In SECTION 3 of the bill, strike amended Sections 31.021(c)(6) and (7), Education Code (page 2, lines 4 through 8), and substitute the following:
(6) [fund the technology lending grant program established under Section 32.201; and
[(7)] provide funding to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Texas School for the Deaf, and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department; and
(7) pay the expenses associated with the instructional materials web portal developed under Section 31.081.
(2) Add the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and renumber subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 31.004(b), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) To determine whether each student has instructional materials that cover all elements of the essential knowledge and skills as required by Subsection (a), a school district or open-enrollment charter school may consider:
(1) instructional materials adopted by the State Board of Education;
(2) materials adopted or purchased by the commissioner under Section 31.0231 or Subchapter B-1;
(3) open-source instructional materials submitted by eligible institutions and adopted by the State Board of Education under Section 31.0241;
(4) open-source instructional materials made available by other public schools; [and]
(5) instructional materials developed or purchased by the school district or open-enrollment charter school; and
(6) open educational resources and other electronic instructional materials included in the repository under Section 31.083.
SECTION ____. Chapter 31, Education Code, is amended by adding Subchapter B-2 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B-2. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS WEB PORTAL
Sec. 31.081. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS WEB PORTAL. (a) The commissioner shall develop and maintain a web portal to assist school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in selecting instructional materials under Section 31.101.
(b) The web portal must include general information such as price, computer system requirements, and any other relevant specifications for each instructional material:
(1) on the instructional materials list, including the list adopted under Section 31.0231; or
(2) submitted by a publisher for inclusion in the web portal.
(c) The commissioner by rule shall establish the procedure by which a publisher may submit instructional materials for inclusion in the web portal.
(d) The commissioner shall use a competitive process to contract for the development of the web portal.
(e) The commissioner shall use money in the state technology and instructional materials fund to pay any expenses associated with the web portal.
Sec. 31.082. QUALITY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED BY PUBLISHER. (a) The commissioner shall contract with a private entity to conduct an independent analysis of each instructional material submitted by a publisher for inclusion in the web portal developed under Section 31.081. The analysis must:
(1) evaluate the quality of the material; and
(2) determine the extent to which the material covers the essential knowledge and skills identified under Section 28.002 for the subject and grade level for which the material is intended to be used, including an identification of:
(A) each of the essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade level or levels covered by the material; and
(B) the percentage of the essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade level or levels covered by the material.
(b) The commissioner shall include in the web portal developed under Section 31.081 the results of each analysis conducted under Subsection (a).
Sec. 31.083. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS REPOSITORY. (a) In this section, "open educational resource" means a teaching, learning, or research resource that is in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use and repurposing of the resource by any person. The term may include full course curricula, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
(b) The commissioner shall include in the web portal developed under Section 31.081 a repository of open educational resources and other electronic instructional materials that school districts and open-enrollment charter schools may access at no cost, including state-developed open-source instructional materials purchased under Subchapter B-1.
(c) A publisher may submit instructional materials for inclusion in the repository.
Sec. 31.084. RULES. The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary to implement this subchapter.
SECTION ____. Not later than September 1, 2018, the commissioner of education shall develop the web portal required under Subchapter B-2, Chapter 31, Education Code, as added by this Act.