Florida's Digital Textbooks Law

      Florida’s legislation outlining guidelines for the implementation of digital instructional materials (aka textbooks) in Florida’s classrooms, SB 2120, was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott on May 26, 2011. Specifically, the legislation states:

Beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year, all adopted instructional materials for students in kindergarten through grade 12 must be provided in an electronic or digital format. (Line 1085 of page 38)

The bill goes on to specify its definition of “electronic” v. “digital” format materials:

(a) “Electronic format” means text-based or image-based content in a form that is produced on, published by, and readable on computers or other digital devices and is an electronic version of a printed book, whether or not any printed equivalent exists.

(b) “Digital format” means text-based or image-based content in a form that provides the student with various interactive functions; that can be searched, tagged, distributed, and used for individualized and group learning; that includes multimedia content such as video clips, animations, and virtual reality; and that has the ability to be accessed at anytime and anywhere. (pg. 38)

      In the legislature’s bill analysis of this legislation, little “analysis” is done to assess the actual implications of this mandate, both in terms of cost and timeline/logistics for implementation, or anything else for that matter. (See pages 4 and 9 in the bill analysis for complete “analysis”).

      By August 1^st of each year, beginning with the year 2011, each School Board in Florida must report to the state’s Dept. of Education the “school or schools in its district which have been designated as pilot program schools” for the digital textbooks initiative. (See bottom of pg. 33). As per the legislation, school districts must also report (beginning in 2012) the following information based on the pilot program schools:

(a) Successful practices;

(b) The average amount of online Internet time needed by a student to access and use the school’s electronic or digital instructional materials;

(c) Lessons learned;

(d) The level of investment and cost-effectiveness; and

(e) Impacts on student performance.

(Reference: pg. 34)