Textbooks: Out of Excuses

The textbook shortage is not over in the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to a Times examination of textbook use. In some schools, students are still going without books in core subjects even after a massive infusion of state funds. Something is wrong, and it’s not money.

Since The Times first reported the textbook crisis three years ago, the California Legislature has more than doubled annual spending on textbooks and library books. More than $1.5 billion has been budgeted for the purchase of new books since 1998, and even more money has been set aside in the current budget.

There’s plenty of money in the pipeline, yet some schools hoard textbook dollars because of confusion over district policy or in anticipation of state approval of new math books next year. No school should have to squirrel away this year’s book funds to guarantee that future students will have the appropriate books to take home.

The LAUSD’s chief financial officer, Joe Zeronian, acknowledges there is no financial crisis and no good reason for textbook shortages to persist. Then why do so many students complain about not having textbooks for English, math, science, history and other core academic subjects? Why must they share books in class, depend on photocopied handouts and waste instructional time copying, say, textbook math problems for homework assignments? On some campuses, poor management is to blame. It’s the responsibility of the principal to make sure that a school has the books it needs.

A computer tracking system, paid for with a $500,000 donation from the California Community Foundation, will finally be operational at the end of the next school year. The technology will replace the cumbersome and ineffective paper-and-pencil inventory that often results in a mismatch between students and books. A more efficient tracking system will tell district officials which schools are fully stocked with the right books and which campuses need more books.

At some schools, the issue is teachers’ preferences. At Marshall High School in the Los Feliz area, for example, the campus book room is filled with hundreds of copies of new textbooks because, according to the principal, some teachers don’t like using books. Great teachers who know what works may not need a textbook to get results, but given the low Stanford 9 scores earned by most LAUSD high school students, the district should develop a mandatory high school textbook policy. It should be similar to the directive that requires the use of research-based reading series in the primary grades at schools that consistently post low reading scores.

The textbook crisis, though substantially diminished since 1997, should be solved by now. In November, then-Supt. Ramon C. Cortines promised books and clean restrooms. Two years ago his predecessor, Ruben Zacarias, zeroed in on unspent book funds and declared the emergency over.

Much has changed in the Los Angeles school district and in Sacramento since the July 1997 revelations of textbook shortages. The school district has no more legitimate excuses: Get those books into the hands of students and teachers.