Supporters seek to encourage debate over textbooks
An assembly bill that would have limited textbooks to 200 pages has been tabled after meeting with sharp criticism from textbook publishers and media outlets – and supporters say that was the point.
Morgan Hill’s State Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) was one of 42 members who voted in favor of the bill, which has drawn the attention of bloggers and columnists.
“I think this was just an opening shot in a debate about the affordability of textbooks,” Laird explained.
Assembly bill AB 756 prohibits the state board of education and local governing agencies from adopting instructional material more than 200 pages long and encourages the use of technology instead.
Critics of the bill argue that student education will be stunted by limiting the number of pages in textbooks.
Opponents also have voiced concern over students’ ability to access online materials – not every household in California has a computer with Internet access.
Laird believes the bill is a way to draw attention to textbook affordability.
He supported the bill knowing that it would never get to the Governor’s desk as is, because there are some genuine issues at stake, he explained.
“I supported it – to get it attention,” Laird said.
Though the bill has been pushed back until January, it will resurface, author Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) said.
Since she pulled the bill, she has met with textbook publishers about changing the way they produce materials. Before she wrote the legislation, they wouldn’t talk to her, she said.
Goldberg serves as education chair of the Assembly.
“We have a late 19th, 20th century way of looking at textbooks. This is the 21st century,” Goldberg said.
She wants textbooks to provide the basic information in more of a guidebook format, but also include links to Web sites where students can research from other sources.
“I don’t really care about the number of pages. I’m not even worried about how heavy they are,” she said, citing that 200 pages was just an arbitrary number selected for the bill.
Goldberg believes that for students to compete internationally, they have to move beyond a solely textbook education.
While Laird is uncertain whether he will support the bill in the future, he believes the bill has drawn attention to the issues.
