Textbooks delayed for start of school

AUSTIN (KXAN) - At the Round Rock Independent School District's textbook warehouse, boxes full of new books for the upcoming school year are ordered in April and arrive by June.

"We get them out to our campuses so when our teachers and students come back they're already on the campuses and ready to go," said Dottie Hall, RRISD textbook coordinator.

In addition to ordering extra books for the 1,000 to 1,200 new students moving into the growing district, Hall said Round Rock also needs more math and science books because more middle school students are taking high school-level courses.

The district also wants to replace thousands of language arts, English as a Second Language, spelling and handwriting books that are more than 11 years old. The updated textbooks will include up-to-date skills students will be tested on at the end of year and online tutorials for teachers.

But none of the new textbooks have been ordered because last session lawmakers changed the way schools order books.

Instead of submitting orders to the Texas Education Agency , districts will now be getting a set sum of money to spend. Districts won't find out how much they are getting until Aug. 1. Then, they have to wait another week to start ordering.

So Round Rock will be ordering textbooks two weeks before the first day of school. With every other district in the state submitting their orders at the same time, the TEA said there is no way publishers will have them delivered when classes start.

“A textbook is a teaching aid," said TEA spokesperson Debbie Ratcliffe. "It’s not the one and only thing teachers use to teach the course. It’s not ideal, but I think they can certainly cope for a few weeks."

The science supplements approved by the State Board of Education will be the only new material students will have access to because it is all online. Sapling Learning, an Austin-based company is waiting for the SBOE to give their online science material the final green light Friday. It has already passed an extensive review by Texas teachers and subject specialists.

 "We'll have their courses up and ready for them well before the first day of school regardless of whether the payment system is in place for them to actually buy the materials," said James Caras, CEO of Sapling Learning.

Round Rock teachers will wait for the rest of their new teaching materials to arrive. In the meantime, they will use the old books and other resources. The TEA has not given districts a set timeline on when the new material will arrive, but told them they will inform shippers to try to speed up the process. The state also asked districts to prioritize their orders and only initially order what they need immediately.

"[Teachers] will make it work and they'll make sure kids are taught what they need to be taught even with or without the books, but I think it's going to be harder on our teachers and that's unfortunate," said Hall.