                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2026) CONTRACTS WITH PUBLISHERS (§ 22.1-241)

A. Local school boards shall either enter into written term contracts or issue
purchase orders on an as-needed basis with publishers of textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials approved by the Board for use in the public
schools. Such written contracts or purchase orders for textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials approved by the Board shall be exempt from
the Virginia Public Procurement Act (&#xA7; 2.2-4300 et seq.).
			The contract price shall not exceed the lowest wholesale price at which the
textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials involved in the
contract are currently bid under contract anywhere in the United States.
			If, subsequent to the date of any contract entered into by a local school
board, the prices of textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials
named in the contract are reduced, the terms of the contract are made more
favorable to purchase anywhere in the United States, or a special or other
edition of any textbook or other high-quality instructional material named in
the contract is sold outside of the Commonwealth at a lower price than
contracted in the Commonwealth, the publisher shall grant the same reduction or
terms to the local school board and give the local school board the option of
using such special or other edition adapted for use in the Commonwealth and at
the lowest price at which such special edition is sold elsewhere and the
contract shall so state.

B. Contracts and purchase orders with publishers of textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials approved by the Board shall require the
publisher to furnish electronic files of the textbooks and other high-quality
instructional materials in the National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standards (NIMAS) format that will then be deposited in the National
Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) from which accessible versions of
the particular textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials may be
produced for students with print disabilities, as defined in 20 U.S.C. &#xA7;
1474. Publishers shall deliver the NIMAS files of the textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials on or before the date of delivery of the
regular text versions.
			Contracts and purchase orders with publishers of textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials approved by the Board for use in grades
6-12 shall allow for the purchase of printed textbooks and other high-quality
instructional materials, printed textbooks and other high-quality instructional
materials with electronic files, or electronic textbooks and other high-quality
instructional materials separate and apart from printed versions of the same
textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials. Each school board
shall have the authority to purchase an assortment of textbooks and other
high-quality instructional materials in any of the three forms listed above.

C. Every school board shall order directly from the respective publishers the
textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials needed to supply the
public schools in the school division. The publishers shall ship the textbooks
and other high-quality instructional materials to the school board. The purchase
price of such textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials shall be
paid directly to the publishers by the school board.

D. With the approval of the local school board and the publisher, any private
school within the school division that so requests may purchase from the local
school board&#8217;s contract with the publisher. Such private school shall be
fully responsible for ordering, purchasing, and receiving shipments of textbooks
and other high-quality instructional materials to be provided from the publisher
pursuant to this section. The local school board shall be immune from any civil
liability as a result of a private school purchasing from the local school
board&#8217;s contract.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 22-299, 22-300, 22-301, 22-303; 1977, c. 85; 1980, c.
559; 1995, c. 750; 2008, cc. 430, 615, 663; 2010, c. 97; 2025, cc. 680, 683.