Simcoe County District School Board trustees want to make sure tough budget cuts won’t keep students from the textbooks and learning materials they need.
The SCDSB’s proposed 2008-2009 operating budget has the board spending $10,842,300 on texts and classroom supplies.
This amount is $3 million less than the board actually has available to spend.
Trustee Brad Saunders said he wants to be assured if the budget is passed, and the money is used elsewhere, students will have the materials they need to learn.
“I don’t want to hear from one parent or one student this year that they haven’t got the material they need, whether electronic or paper,” he said. “That is a real priority.”
Board staff say they are in a good position with textbooks at the moment, with the only real issues being in grades where the curriculum was recently changed.
“We are a well resourced board,” said superintendent Dr. Lindy Zartesky. “We are very well resourced in our materials. When the new curriculum does get revised, it takes time to get a textbook in everyone’s hands.”
Because textbooks need to be replaced each time the curriculum changes, Zaretsky said staff are looking at alternative ways make sure students have the best and most up-to-date materials.
“There are many companies that have turned to CDs now with Web-based updates to keep the material current and relevant and aligned with the provincial assessment,” she said.
Zaretsky said staff are looking at the types of technology families have at home to see if the CD-based texts would work as an alternative.
Many trustees, including trustee Caroline Smith, stressed the importance of textbooks as a learning tool. “I think the most important thing you can do to build a relationship for homework between a parent and a child is to give them a book of something to work together on,” Smith said. “To me, as a parent, the time I can sit down and do math work is with a textbook and I can help my child.”
Zaretsky said staff are not going to abandon textbooks.
“It may just be that we don’t think in the traditional way, of one textbook per student to take home,” she said.
The extra $3 million is currently allocated to help balance other areas of the board’s budget.
