Creating a Commission to provide for the writing and publication of a suitable text on Virginia’s history, government, and geography.
Whereas, the State Board of Education is authorized to select textbooks for the schools of the State but is not authorized to contract for the preparation and publication of texts; and
Whereas, there is an apparent dearth of textbooks for teaching Virginia, history, government, and geography; and
Whereas, this situation should be remedied: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of Virginia, the House of Delegates concurring, That a Commission be, and hereby is, created to provide for the preparation of a suitable text or texts on Virginia’s history and government, and, if selected by the State Board of Education for use in the public schools, for the publication of the same. The Commission shall be composed of seven members from the State at large appointed by the Governor. The Commission shall be known as the Virginia History and Government Textbook Commission.
The Commission shall confer with the State Board of Education in ascertaining the availability and suitability of texts for teaching Virginia history, government, and geography. If the Commission finds that suitable texts in these fields are not available, it shall then proceed to procure, as hereinafter set out, the preparation and publication of suitable texts for the teaching of these subjects.
The Commission shall have authority to select and employ some person or persons to prepare a text or texts, suitable for use in the schools of the State, on the subjects of history, government and geography. The Commission shall arrange for the review of the manuscripts from time to time by persons selected by it in order to assure that the texts shall be written in language suitable for children in the grades for which they are intended.
After the texts have been written and reviewed, the Commission shall submit them to the State Board of Education for use in the schools of the State, and, if selected, the Commission shall arrange for the publication of such texts in such number of copies as it deems appropriate, and, in the discretion of the Commission, shall provide with the publisher that the type for such texts shall be retained, from which additional copies may be printed from time to time.
The Commission shall begin its work not later than July one, nineteen fifty, and shall report to the Governor and General Assembly not later than December one, nineteen fifty-one, on its actions taken pursuant to this Resolution.
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The Commission is authorized to employ such assistants and to pay them such reasonable compensation as it deems appropriate.
The members of the Commission shall be paid a per diem of ten dollars a day and expenses for each day they are engaged in business of the Commission. The per diem and expenses and such other expenses as the Commission may incur shall be paid from funds appropriated therefor in the general Appropriation Act; was taken up.
The following committee amendments were agreed to:
Page 2, line 17, after the word “nineteen”, insert “hundred”.
Page 2, line 18, after the word “nineteen”, insert “hundred”.
The resolution was agreed to by the following vote:
Yeas, 25. Nays, 6.
Yeas – Messrs. Baldwin, Bird, L. C., Blanton, Breeden, Burton, Button, Byrd, H. F., Jr., Carpenter, Carter, Caudill, Fitzpatrick, Goode, Gray, Guest, Gunter, Hagood, Harrison, Hillard, Lendreth, Long, Palmer, Perrow, Pitts, Stuart, and Vaden – 25.
Nays – Messrs. Dalton, Fenwick, McCue, Moses, Robinette, and Warren – 6.
