After months of working to shield classroom instruction from budget-cutting frenzies, school districts will have to start classes in August without new textbooks.
The Texas Education Agency confirmed late last week that an ongoing reconfiguration of its online ordering system coupled with a delay in state funding for textbooks will postpone the arrival of new books beyond the start of school the week of Aug. 24 and likely into September.The new system will eventually ease book buying, state officials said.But for now, many local school leaders are steamed."Our students need instructional materials on the first day of school," Arlington school board member Jamie Sullins said after a Thursday night meeting at which the board learned of the delay. "There are no instructional days that we can forfeit."Others noted that the new textbooks reflect the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, which in the spring will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the testing standard since 2003."We've got the new STAAR testing and new requirements -- everything's new," said Sandra Vatthauer, Mansfield's school board president. "So you're starting the year with a handicap if you don't have your textbooks."TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said many local school officials may be unaware of the logistical change."We are still getting that information out to the districts to tell them what the situation is," she said.'More opportunities'The new ordering system and other changes required by Senate Bill 6 will revamp how districts buy books.Under the outgoing system, districts ordered books from the state, which paid for them. The new system creates an instructional materials fund for each district and broadens the types of books and other services the districts can buy with the money."It opens up more opportunities for the districts," Culbertson said. "It allows them to purchase technical equipment or provide training."They will also be able to use their allotments to buy books not on the approved lists of the state education board. Districts wanting off-list books had to buy them with local funding.The Legislature has allotted $792 million in the proposed biennial budget to buy textbooks and other materials for the state's 4.8 million schoolchildren.'Not overly alarmed'Fort Worth district officials said they are looking into how the ordering changes will affect the district.The Crowley district submitted its textbook order in April, spokesman Anthony Kirchner said. "We're not overly alarmed."However, textbook orders aren't filled until the state approves them and the funding for newly adopted textbooks is in place, Kirchner said.According to Theresa Kohler, Crowley's chief instruction officer, the state has combined funds for technology and for textbooks into one this year.Textbooks are a resource for, not a source of, instruction, Kohler said, and curriculum resources such as computer-based programs can be used if the books are late.The Grapevine-Colleyville district placed the bulk of its textbook orders in April as well and expects those to be on time.But a later request may have to wait, according to the district's textbook coordinator, who said that because of a system update, the state has delayed the submission of new orders until after Aug. 1."We have another smaller order for supplemental science textbooks that the board approved in June that we will be placing as well," district spokeswoman Megan Overman said. "We apparently will submit all orders as soon as the system is up and ready."The system delays won't affect older books and replacements ordered before the shutdown started, Culbertson said.The education board is set to consider approving the new materials at its July 20-22 meeting.Staff writers Eva-Marie Ayala and Shirley Jinkins contributed to this report.Robert Cadwallader, 817-390-7641Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
