Below are answers to our most frequently asked questions (skip to a question, or scroll below).
1. Are all resident pupils in kindergarten through grade 12 eligible for the loan of textbooks?
2. What is the definition of a textbook?
3. What materials are excluded under the textbook loan law?
4. What is the obligation of the parents of pupils attending nonpublic schools?
8. Is it my obligation as a parent to pick up my child’s books at BOCES?
10. Are the nonpublic schools responsible for storing books no longer in use?
1. Are all resident pupils in kindergarten through grade 12 eligible for the loan of textbooks?
Yes. All resident pupils are eligible for the loan of textbooks.
2. What is the definition of a textbook?
A textbook is any book or a book substitute, including hard-covered or paperback books, workbooks designed to be written in and used up, certain newspapers and news magazines and manuals which a pupil is required to use as a text or a text-substitute in a particular class or program as a primary source of study material intended to implement a major part of a State of local curriculum.
Pursuant to Sections 207 and 701(2) of the Education Law as amended by Chapter 405 of the Laws of 1999, textbooks include courseware or other content-based instructional materials in electronic format, which means any instructional medium that provides specific nonsectarian educational content to students via a computer or other electronic system and is required as a primary source of study material intended to implement a major portion of a state of local curriculum.
3. What materials are excluded under the textbook loan law?
Reference materials — encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, and general and special dictionaries, except that dictionaries individually assigned to all pupils in a particular class or program as a textbook substitute are considered as textbooks.
Supplementary materials — supplementary textbooks, novels and other fiction, magazines, newspapers, and audiovisual materials normally housed in the school library or instructional materials center for short-term use by pupils.
Other materials — tests and testing materials, teachers’ editions of textbooks, review books, and materials in kit form.
4. What is the obligation of the parents of pupils attending nonpublic schools?
Parents of pupils attending nonpublic schools must submit to the board of education of their district of residence (or its representative) a written request for the textbooks needed by their children during the coming year. This request should include the information necessary to provide the books such as title, author, publisher, and copyright date. The request may be submitted through he nonpublic school. These loaned books must be returned by the parent to the loan service at the end of the school year or to the school district office.
5. Is the nonpublic school administrator required to submit collectively the parents’ requests for textbooks?
No. However, such an arrangement is allowed and can expedite the textbook loan process. Many school districts have made such arrangements with nonpublic school administrators and they have proven to be effective. A school may also ask each parent to fill out the loan form and submit it to BOCES individually.
6. May a public school district monetarily reimburse a nonpublic school pupil for textbooks that pupil purchased privately?
No. Education Law 701 statutorily mandates that districts purchase and loan textbooks to resident public and nonpublic school pupils. This means actual books; a district may not monetarily reimburse a nonpublic school pupil for privately purchased textbooks. To do so violates the New York State Constitution, which prohibits a gift of public funds for private benefit.
7. Are students who are receiving home instruction eligible to borrow textbooks under the Textbook Loan program?
No. Students who are instructed at home are not eligible to receive textbooks, since they do not meet the provision in Education Law 701 of being enrolled in either a public or private school.
8. Is it my obligation as a parent to pick up my child’s books at BOCES?
Generally, the loan service delivers to the nonpublic school during the last week of August for those students whose textbook requests were received by the loan request deadline. In cases of late orders, course changes after the start of school, and late return or non-return of textbooks from the previous school year, parents may be asked to pick up books at the BOCES office.
9. If during the course of the year, my child no longer attends the nonpublic school, can I leave the books at the school so that the school can return them?
No. It is the parents’ responsibility as the borrower to return the books to the BOCES office or their school district in a timely manner.
10. Are the nonpublic schools responsible for storing books no longer in use?
No. The books belong to the school district and are its responsibility. The nonpublic school administrator should contact BOCES to make arrangements for their return to the BOCES central inventory.
