State Offers no Money for Textbooks

Nonexistent state funding for new textbook purchases is driving the search for alternative sources of information, mainly via the Internet, electronic databases and licensing of eBooks. Schools also are making do with the books they have, stretching out replacement cycles and repairing worn volumes when practical.

State funding has dwindled from $21 million in 2008 to nothing in the current biennium, said Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez. The education department and the state board of education is lobbying for more money the next time around but 2013 isn’t a budget year, she said.

Increasingly, districts are buying netbooks and iPads