§ 712. Loan of school library materials. 1. In the several cities and school districts of the state, boards of education, trustees or such body or officers as perform the function of such boards shall have the power and duty to loan upon request of an individual or a group of individual pupils, to all pupils defined in subdivision three of section seven hundred eleven of this article, school library materials. School library materials loaned to such pupils attending private schools shall be school library materials which are designated for use in any public elementary or secondary schools of the state or are approved by any board of education, trustees or other school authorities. Such school library materials are to be loaned free to such children subject to such rules and regulations as are or may be prescribed by the board of regents and such boards of education, trustees or other school authorities.

2. No school district shall be required to loan school library materials in excess of the school library materials owned or acquired by such district pursuant to section seven hundred eleven of this article. Such school library materials shall be loaned on an equitable basis to children defined in subdivision three of section seven hundred eleven of this article attending in the current year. The payment of tuition under article eighty-nine of this chapter is deemed to be an equitable loan to children for whom such tuition is paid.