unnecessarily high cost of education
In Indiana, families are required to lease/rent the schoolbooks for their children. It caught me by surprise the first time I heard about it, because I had never in any of the other states I had lived ever heard of such a thing. Your taxes pay for the school books. School books were part of the free public education. In Indiana it's a little different. The argument goes that paying for school books helps alleviate the burden on those who don't have children in school and shifts it more to those who do. Another argument is that it ensures that the curricula are current and not outdated and that there is enough material to go around. Unfortunately, the reality is that children still end up with ten year old text books, kids are still sharing text books, and property taxes are as high as they have ever been. And what of the lottery that was adopted that was going to be such a windfall to education? It has been parceled out among so many interests that its impact on education is minimal (at least relative to its impact on the gambling addicted and families).The other problem I have with some of these rentals is the accounting. School systems say that the rental fees simply cover the costs of the books and nothing more. When a child is using a ten year old book that they paid $50 to rent, are we to assume that this book costs $500? I don't think so. If that is the case, the schools are getting ripped off.
Here are a couple ideas I have for school books in Indiana (and even other places too). I have read the law as extensively as I can. Nowhere can I find anything that compels parents to rent their books from the school district. The children have to have the books for their classes, sure, but it's a free market and parents should be able to purchase/rent their books from anyone they want, as long as they get the correct one. If the books are available on Amazon, buy them from there. If you can get a used one inexpensively, all the better. At the end of the school year, simply log back on to Amazon and sell the books back, similar to the way students in college do. Chances are that the purchase price will be comparable if not cheaper than the rental and when you throw in the sale at the end of the year, you come out much further ahead. I've been thinking of setting up an online Indiana marketplace for schoolbooks parents would need.
Another idea I have that is more universally helpful is to open source education. Let's face it. Generally speaking, the material in textbooks is not proprietary. History is history. Math is math. The collation of the material and the examples are the only things that distinguish one textbook from another. Most of the material that is available in textbooks is also available online at wikipedia. How much more difficult would it be to put together an open source collation of material that constitutes a third grade social studies manual or a fifth grade math book? The books could be locked at the beginning of a school year (since wikipedia is always evolving) but include links to the most current material. They could then be made into a downloadable PDF that is freely available to any school system to use. An application could even be developed that allows teachers to mix and match their own material from a base collection and customize the curricula to their students needs. There's no reason to pay exorbitant fees for material that is freely available. Does this make sense to anyone besides me?
Textbook publishers compete fiercely before state legislatures to get themselves on an approved list. I am certain cost is one of the factors state departments of education consider when they determine which textbooks they are going to use. I see no reason why an open source manual that is always up-to-date and costs nothing could not get on the approved list as well with the right support behind it. I know that I as a constituent would be behind its adoption. With families getting more and more budget strapped, I am sure that I am not alone. It's not uncommon for families with just four kids to get sacked with bills from their schools each year for $600+. Ouch! Education shouldn't require major sacrifices from families. An open source curricula would be better, more up-to-date, and cost less. It's a no-brainer.
posted by bylaw @ 9:27 PM
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