FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2009
Contact: Julie White, jwhite@acsa.org, (916) 329-3832

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has launched an initiative to make California the first state in the nation to offer free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.

The governor directed Secretary of Education Glen Thomas to ensure these resources are available for use in high school math and science classes by fall 2009, a critical first step in helping ensure digital textbooks are widely available to all California students.

As ACSA has made continuous efforts to reign in textbook costs, the initiative is viewed as good news.

“California has seen skyrocketing prices for instructional materials over the last 10 years, while the appropriation for the Instructional Materials Fund has remained flat,” said ACSA Executive Director Bob Wells. “Any effort to make textbook costs and adoptions more economical and efficient will benefit our schools.”

Schwarzenegger noted that as California’s budget crisis continues, the state must embrace such innovative ways to save money and improve services.

“California was built on innovation and I’m proud of our state’s continued leadership in developing education technology,” he said. “This first-in-the-nation initiative will reduce education costs, help encourage collaboration among school districts and help ensure every California student has access to a world-class education.”

Thomas will work with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and State Board of Education President Ted Mitchell to develop a state approved list of standards-aligned, open-source digital textbooks for high school math and science. This list will be compiled after content developers across the country are asked to and have submitted digital material for review.

“Under governor Schwarzenegger’s leadership, California’s classrooms will have access to a wider range of online teaching materials that best serve the unique needs of our students, parents, teachers and schools,” Thomas said. “I look forward to working with Superintendent O’Connell and President Mitchell to make these free digital resources available to California high schools for the coming school year.”

ACSA’s efforts to contain instructional materials costs included working to successfully change statute so that math and reading/language arts adoptions are permanently separated to allow districts to accrue funds between these costly adoptions. ACSA will continue to sponsor legislation to require the State Board of Education to consider price after it approves programs for standards alignment and quality, and to reject publisher bids that are not reasonably priced.

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