A Textbook Debate | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dr. Terry Stoops, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    RALEIGH  -  Recent headlines have called attention to the issue of state public school textbook funding. Partisans have tried to score political points with quotes like the following:


    I plan to address the educational aspects of the textbook debate in an upcoming John Locke Foundation "Education Update." First, let's examine the facts about textbooks and instructional materials in North Carolina.

• Nearly $30 million was set aside in the state budget for each of the next two years for digital learning and technology: $11.9 million in lottery funds and $18 million in Civil Fines and Forfeiture funds.
• Making good on their promise to expand local control, legislators have given school districts the ability to use other sources of funds for textbook purchases. For example, they can tap their share of the $43 million for classroom supplies or, for eligible districts, part of the $200 million in low-wealth funding.
• One serious, but seldom discussed, problem is that textbooks have become extremely expensive (with no improvement in quality, in my opinion). According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the average costs of textbooks are as follows:
  
  
  There is not much that our state can do to upend the public school textbook racket. Open-source instructional materials may be one long-term remedy. In the short term, we should continue to champion entrepreneurship and competition in the textbook market.
• Finally, the issue is not limited just to textbooks; expenditures for supplies and materials generally have been on the rise. DPI reports that, during the 2010-11 school year, school districts spent a total of $951.6 million (or $679 per student) on supplies and materials. During the 2012-13 school year, districts spent $1.05 billion (or $739 per student) on those expenses.

    Perhaps the current level of state textbook funding alone is insufficient to cover the cost of either traditional or digital textbooks. But school districts that want to make an investment in textbooks can do so by earmarking revenue from other state, local, and federal funding sources. In other words, the state textbook allotment is not the sole source of textbook funding in North Carolina.

    You would not know that by reading and watching stories produced by the mainstream media in this state. Apparently, facts that fall outside of their anti-Republican narrative are irrelevant to them.

    As revenues improve, should Republicans resume textbook funding at prerecession levels? That will depend on a number of factors, some of which are out of their control. I suspect that legislators will initiate several discussions about textbooks during the upcoming legislative session.