(California) Budget cuts put new textbook purchases on hold (no Obama election)

[question everything]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-textbooks8-2009aug08,0,7197708.story
From the Los Angeles Times

Budget cuts put new textbook purchases on hold
The state and many California school districts look to save money by postponing approvals of updated books. Some fear the moves may put students at a disadvantage.
By Seema Mehta

August 8, 2009

History textbooks in many California classrooms won't mention the election of President Obama or the subprime mortgage meltdown until at least 2016. Stem cell research and climate change could be absent from science texts even longer. And students will be using aging books for years longer than planned because of California's education budget cuts.

The state budget that closed a $24-billion gap last month dramatically reduced state spending for textbooks. The state Board of Education won't approve new books for kindergarten through eighth grade until January 2016 at the earliest, and districts have postponed approvals of new high school books as well. A state requirement that districts purchase books within two years of adoption has been waived until 2013. Additionally, state funding previously earmarked solely for textbooks -- nearly $334 million this year -- can now be spent by school districts for other needs over the next four years, providing flexibility that educators say is essential at a time of severe budget reductions.

(snip)

Teachers can still supplement aging books with other materials -- a routine practice -- so students will learn about Obama's election and the worst recession in decades. But the policy changes will dramatically affect districts' book purchases for the foreseeable future. California school districts spent at least $633 million on new books in 2007, according to the Assn. of American Publishers. More recent numbers are not available, but a representative of one publishing house who asked not to be named because of proprietary concerns said sales in the state -- the nation's biggest textbook market -- are off by 50% or more.

(snip)

Los Angeles Unified, the largest district in the state, is saving $60 million by postponing purchases. Districts' officials say the postponements will have a minimal effect in the classroom.. The 87,499-student district has put all major textbook adoptions on hold indefinitely, saving $5 million annually.

(snip)

[marshall]

1. Hopefully the teachers can supplement the textbooks with newspaper or magazine articles

Or even their own anectdotal memory about the recent past.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Electronic textbooks would adress a lot of this...

I have felt for a long time that educational communities should produce texts and reference works, not publishers. Several of the top tech school have released 101 level material to the Commons, and I think more should be done along those lines. The risk is that the publishers have a huge amount of clout in the HS systems. At the college level there is much more freedom. I say this as an author of multiple text books.

[csziggy]

3. In the 60s the history textbook we had did not cover the Korean War

Or mention Vietnam at all. I think the one I had was published in 1954. That was OK with our teacher who did not cover much beyond the "War of Northern Aggression." :shrug:

So this is nothing new at all, just the most recent expression.

[KakistocracyHater]

4. I'm fine with that, they never get to teaching modern history

not for me, or my sister. The latest in science would be at the college level, history? It depends, there are too many Christians giving a warped view of the revolutions of the 18th Century. The past hasn't changed much, just rebind the books. Millions spent on books? I'd rather that money be spent on the disabled, the elderly.