Title 17. Education

Chapter 1. General School Law

Part IV. Free School Books and Other Materials of Instruction

17:355     Parental access to instructional materials

A. A parent of a child attending a public elementary or secondary school shall be entitled to access to instructional materials as provided in this Section.

B. A parent is entitled to:

(1) Review instructional materials used by or administered to the parent’s child.

(2) Review any survey before the survey is administered or distributed by a school to a student.

C. Each local school board shall adopt rules and policies for each school to make instructional materials readily available for review as provided in this Section. The rules may specify reasonable hours for review. The rules shall provide that the school shall provide access to instructional materials to a parent upon request. If a parent requests a paper copy of material that can be readily copied using school equipment, such copy shall be provided. The rules shall establish reasonable and customary fees to be collected by the school to cover the cost of providing such copies. No provision of law or school board policy shall prohibit or interfere with a parent’s ability to make his own copies on school premises via mobile or other device. The principal of each school shall ensure that the school complies with such rules.

D. For purposes of this Section:

(1) “Instructional materials” means content that conveys the knowledge or skills of a subject in the school curriculum through a medium or a combination of media for conveying information to a student. It also includes any nonsecure test, nonsecure assessment, or survey administered to a student. The term also includes books, supplementary materials, teaching aids, computer software, magnetic media, DVD, CD-ROM, computer courseware, online material, information, or services, or an electronic medium or other means of conveying information to the student or otherwise contributing to the learning process.

(2) “Parent” means the parent or legal guardian of a child.

(3) “Survey” means any evaluative instrument or questionnaire that is not an assessment of academic knowledge, skills, or abilities, administered as part of a state, national, or international assessment or by itself.

Added by Acts 2014, No. 436, § 1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014.