Letting school districts pick books diminishes SBOE power

Bad news for textbook cronies. Bad news for power hungry State Board of Education members.

A new state law that decentralizes the selection and purchase of instructional materials for public school students has sparked significant discussion about how it will affect the power of the politically charged State Board of Education to control what’s taught in Texas classrooms.

But its most dramatic impact may be on the state’s relationship to the textbook industry, since companies must now compete for bids from individual districts instead of being able to rely on a single big and largely guaranteed state contract. School districts are also using the same money to support technological hardware like iPads and salaries for technology training and support staff.