By Nathan Bernier, KUT News
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Dallas, TX – The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote Friday on approving English language textbooks. The contracts could be worth almost half a billion dollars. But state legislators are facing a budget gap of more than $20 billion in the next session, and some people are worried that textbook spending could be on the chopping block. KUT's Nathan Bernier reports.
Money to buy textbooks comes from the Texas Permanent School Fund. It's a 22 billion dollar endowment. And this biennium, it's expected to pay out 1-point-2 billion dollars. But that money first has to go to the legislature and then be sent back to the State Board of Education. Textbook publishers are concerned not all that money will go to books. Jay Diskey is with the Association of American Publishers.
Diskey: "Schools across the state have been preparing for these new materials, and we don't think that it's fair or appropriate to hold kids accountable to meeting higher standards if they don't have the textbooks and the curriculum to get them there."
The State Board of Education is already scaled back textbooks spending - substituting online materials instead. And it's considering setting a maximum price for new books. Some members are concerned the legislature could use permanent school fund revenue to fill budget holes for other education funding. Jim Cardle with the conservative non-profit Texas Citizen Action Network says that would be politically unwise.
Cardle: "There's nothing more basic than defending the shores, building some roads, and educating our kids. There's no excuse for diverting permanent school fund revenues to anything else other than getting reading and English textbooks in the classroom."
But it's not like it hasn't been done before. In 2003 Texas faced a less severe budget crisis than this one is shaping up to be. Lawmakers then decided just not to buy new textbooks, and the whole process was pushed back.