House Bill 1568 Summary

• Requires public schools to provide curricular materials (textbooks) to all students at no cost, effective July 1, 2017.

• Establishes a curricular materials fund administered by the Department of Education to reimburse schools for the costs of providing free materials to students.

• Fund consists of general assembly appropriations, donations, federal grants, and investment earnings; money in the fund is continually appropriated and does not revert to the general fund.

• Department shall determine a uniform cost per student for curricular materials and distribute funds to schools before July 15 each year; if insufficient funds exist, distributions are made on a pro rata basis.

• Eliminates previous provisions allowing schools to rent curricular materials to students or charge fees, while maintaining limited exceptions for nonpublic schools and allowing low-income assistance programs under existing state aid provisions.