Posted on 08/08/2009 9:56:45 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Budget cuts will force the California Board of Education to delay buying new textbooks until January 2016 at the earliest, officials say.
A state budget that closed a $24 billion deficit last month dramatically reduced state spending for kindergarten through eighth-grade textbooks, and a result most school districts are also putting off buying new high school textbooks, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
California has also moved to allow funds that were supposed to be solely for textbooks to be diverted to other uses -- an amount that totals $334 million this year. The Times said administrators contend that flexibility is essential for dealing effectively with the budget crisis, but at least one state official disagrees.
"We need modern, state-of-the-art textbooks, not outdated, antiquated textbooks," Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell told the newspaper. "It could be close to a generation before we see new textbooks."
"There is no really good decision," added California Teachers Association President David Sanchez.
Seriously, government should get out of education completely and let parents pay for it themselves.
Sounds like it buys them time to publish new text books. If you get my drift.....
Good by then we will be able to go back to Math Science English and other valuable lessons. Social Studies programs should be outlawed and left to the parents. Of course this will put many Communists out of work but we can offer free plane tickets to Cuba and Venezuela where they can become truley useful idiots picking sugar cane.
Or the schools could just return to teaching American history and civics by the people, places, and dates. When I learned such things in middle and high school at the turn of the millennium, we had to memorize and recite documents such as the Preamble to the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address, and my high school civics teacher taught us landmark Supreme Court cases and encouraged us to participate in American self-governance by being informed citizens and actively voting.
Wait, I went to school in Virginia, not California.
lol!
I am sure Bill Gates or someone will donate history, science, math and other books, all with Obama on the cover I would bet
Social Studies are very vital part of education. We should require those studies of the evils of communism over the decades. I still remember that our textbook in middle school on communism was bright red. It can't be left to the parents because most parents are totally ignorant of the forces of communism at work today.
Unfortunatly all teachers who have that kbnowledge are dead or retired. It has not been taught in college for years. Better to eliminate it until new teachers can be trained. Besides it will take full time to teach the kids to read write and add.
I wonder what The Other State that drives the textbook industry (Texas) is going to do?
Actually, I think that basic micro-economics ought to be included as a component of the secondary school curriculum, alongside U.S. and world geography.
Why? What cutting edge information are kids learning in grade school? Anymore, the state has difficulty producing young people who are minimally literate - let alone on the bleeding edge of learning.
Good idea. There may be some teachers left with the knowledge of addition and subtraction who could take on the task.
Holy cow, they’ll go through the entire Obama presidency without his halo-ed photo in their textbooks?!
Seriesly, though. How many behind-the-scenes bureaucrats did it take to analyze that decision?
California’s state payroll added 48 jobs a day every day FOR AN ENTIRE DECADE! (That’s “every day” as in 365 days a year!) Even this past year, with their woebegone budget, they managed to ADD 3,600 public workers.
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/035353.html
They’re like kudzu!
Seriously, as a former teacher, I can say that most textbook updates are unnecessary and often produced worse books. But the textbook companies are part and parcel of the public school monopoly, and they expect a fresh cash infusion every five years. This California thing is going to hurt them, because California and Texas provide most of their profit.
Yes, indeed. The ratio of managers to classroom teachers in the public school is 1:10. This is higher than the ration of officers to enlisted in the armed forces. Furthermore, there are about 10,000 schools districts in the United States, most of whom are headed by superintendents who are paid higher salaries than general officers.
Another reason to homeschool!
This is more proof that government schools can not be reformed. Not enough money to buy textbooks? Unbelievable! These people are completely incompetent and shouldn't be left alone around children. Where are their priorities?
Another reason to homeschool.
I remember the 12th grade in Bama so well. They handed me a math book that was nine years old. Then they gave me a English literature book that was 24 years old. Finally...the American civics book? It was fourteen years old.
I look at my son over the past ten years...none of his books were more than three years old.
Hey, I am using books for my 3rd grader that my college grad son used. Then again, as a homeschooler, I don’t get $6600 per kid per year. I spend about $500 a year on books and materials. For up to four students at a time.
Usually, I get the bulk of what I need from EBay and other homeschool auction sites.
It can be done.
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