Digital Education Materials

A public school contracting entity (entity) that executes 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 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: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)