Questions over textbook deals likely to resurface at tonight's Dallas school board meeting
10:42 AM CDT on Thursday, March 25, 2010
With millions of dollars at stake, the drama over a textbook controversy is expected to continue at today’s Dallas school board meeting.
Trustees of the Dallas Independent School District are scheduled to vote on which publishers should get lucrative deals to provide more than 500,000 textbooks in literature and reading next school year.
Several irregularities have surfaced in the selection process, causing concern by educators, trustees and one major textbook company.
In one case, teachers across DISD voted overwhelming for publisher Houghton MifflinHarcourt’s books for elementary students, but the district’s textbook adoption committee recommended books by Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Scott Foresman.
Trustee Lew Blackburn is considering asking his colleagues to award the deal to Houghton Mifflin, to align with the teacher vote. The district’s textbook committee includes administrators and teachers and