AI-assisted research summary: Schools must provide students adequate, current textbooks and needed instructional supplies; students and parents or guardians should care for the materials, and education authorities must support and coordinate textbook information and approvals.
(a) The Legislature finds that textbooks and other instructional materials are among the basic tools of learning that must exist if Alabama students are to succeed. (b) All students in the public schools shall be provided with adequate and current textbooks and other necessary instructional supplies for use in their education. Textbooks and other supporting materials shall be appropriate for their course work and shall be in suitable condition. Where textbooks are issued pursuant to Section 16-36-69, every student shall have his or her own copy of the issued textbook of the correct edition, which he or she shall be permitted to take home each day for home study for the entire school year or for the portion of the year when the book is issued. (c) It is the intent of the Legislature that it is the student’s responsibility, as well as the student’s parent or guardian, to care for the textbooks and instructional supplies provided by the state in a manner so that the materials are not damaged to the point of being unusable. (d) The State Department of Education has a continuing obligation to provide systems and schools with information about textbooks and other instructional materials, including computer software and technology-related materials. The State Textbook Committee shall ensure that textbooks recommended to the State Board of Education for approval support the appropriate course or courses of study. (e) Instructional supplies, including library books and media resources, science equipment, classroom furniture, audiovisual equipment, maps and globes, chalkboards, art and music supplies, and other educational materials shall be provided in all schools in adequate form and quantity. It shall not be necessary for teachers to make personal expenditures to provide the materials described in this section.