SECTION 66.30. State Review Panels: Eligibility and Appointment

(a) The commissioner of education shall determine the number of review panels needed to review instructional materials under consideration for adoption, the number of persons to serve on each panel, and, subject to this section, the process for selecting panel members.

(b) As determined by this section, panel members shall serve with the advice and consent of the member from whose district the panel member resides.

(c) The commissioner shall solicit nominations for possible appointees to state review panels from the State Board of Education (SBOE), school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and educational organizations in the state. Nominations may be accepted from any Texas resident. Nominations shall not be made by or accepted from any publishers; hardware or software providers; authors; depositories; agents for publishers, hardware or software providers, authors, or depositories; or any person who holds any official position with a publisher, hardware or software provider, author, depository, or agent.

(d) A person nominated to serve on a state review panel shall disclose in any nomination or application, in a manner designated by the commissioner, his or her residence and whether currently or at any time in the 36 months preceding the appointment the person:

(1) was employed by or received funds from any individual or entity affiliated with a publishing company involved in or connected to the adoption of instructional materials;

(2) owned or controlled any interest valued at more than $5,000 in a privately owned publishing company or an entity receiving funds from a publishing company involved in or connected to the adoption of instructional materials or had direct ownership of stock of a publicly traded company involved in or connected to the adoption of instructional materials; or

(3) was employed by an institution of higher education that has submitted open education resource instructional materials or is a publisher of instructional materials.

(e) The commissioner shall propose appointments to state review panels that, to the extent possible, as determined by the commissioner, include the following:

(1) individuals nominated by SBOE members;

(2) individuals representing a diverse mixture of gender, race, and SBOE districts;

(3) a majority of members with content expertise and experience;

(4) academic experts in each subject area for which instructional materials are being considered, giving priority to content-relevant educators and professors; and

(5) educators, parents, business and industry representatives, and employers.

(f) For purposes of this section, an "academic expert" is a person who:

(1) is a public-school teacher with at least ten years of classroom teaching experience; or

(2) has at least a master's degree in the subject area; or

(3) is a professor at an accredited four-year institution of higher education in Texas.

(g) The commissioner shall notify the SBOE of the proposed appointments. The commissioner shall assign each appointee to the SBOE district in which he or she resides.

(h) An SBOE member may reject the proposed appointment of a panel member representing that member's SBOE district by notifying the commissioner via electronic mail within five business days of receiving the proposed appointment list. Failure to reject a proposed appointment within five business days constitutes consent for the appointment.

(i) After close of the five-business-day period under subsection (h) of this section, the commissioner may propose additional members if necessary. The commissioner shall provide to the SBOE member who represents the district of residence for each additional proposed panel member the opportunity for review of additional members in accordance with the time period and rejection rules under subsection (h) of this section. The SBOE shall be notified of finalized appointments made by the commissioner to state review panels. The final list of appointees, their roles, and who nominated them shall be given to each member of the SBOE no later than the first public meeting following the finalization of the panels.

(j) The commissioner shall inform nominees who are not appointed to a state review panel that all members of the public may review instructional materials and give input during the public comment period.

(k) The role of each appointee shall be designated by the commissioner and disclosed to all appointees on each panel.

(l) Members of a state review panel may be removed at the discretion of the commissioner at any time prior to the completion of the review.

Source Note: The provisions of this §66.30 adopted to be effective September 1, 1996, 21 TexReg 7236; amended to be effective February 22, 2010, 35 TexReg 1454; amended to be effective May 21, 2014, 39 TexReg 3855; amended to be effective May 5, 2016, 41 TexReg 3137; amended to be effective March 27, 2018, 43 TexReg 1846; amended to be effective March 24, 2020, 45 TexReg 1989