The North Carolina Textbook Commission was announced back in July. Catch up on who was appointed here. The commission is supposed to meet 4 times by law, however since the announcement, not much has been heard about this commission that was appointed by Governor McCrory. We have heard nothing about who has been made chair of this commission, when it will meet for the first time or really, anything else.
Well, we do know a chair has been selected via Twitter, but who is it?
Discussion of digital textbooks…Textbook Commission Chair: not sure books will make it to classrooms because of low funding.#NCSBESept14
— NC Public Schools (@ncpublicschools) September 3, 2014
We now know, thanks to Twitter again, that math texts are being approved?
GCS4-2014 Math Textbook Adoption for approval this month.#NCSBESept14
— NC Public Schools (@ncpublicschools) September 3, 2014
What book(s)? Where can people see them?
By the way, this commission apparently doesn’t violate the separation of powers that the Governor has suddenly become obsessed with. There isn’t even a website for this commission where citizens can keep tabs on what they are doing. The only link I found was at the Department of Public Instruction. Transparency!
I checked the Department of Public Instruction site and found that all the documentation regarding this commission and its various duties are all out of date. This might be mostly because the statutes have not changed regarding the commission. Still, it would be helpful if at least the meeting/adoption schedule was updated.
What I did find interesting was that this textbook commission will not act alone. There are “regional” committees to be formed:
The Textbook Commission shall appoint regional textbook evaluation advisory committees for each of the State’s educational districts defined in G.S. 115C-65. Members
shall serve a one-year term that begins on a schedule determined by the Department of Public Instruction to coincide with the schedule for the Textbook Commission. The Textbook Commission shall fill any vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term. Members shall serve at the pleasure of the Textbook Commission.
So, who gets to choose these people? Where is the list or announcement of these people? All that is on the DPI site is a 2011 schedule for the regional committee. Really??
These regional committees get a minder from the Department of Public Instruction:
The Superintendent will assign to members of the department the responsibility of assisting the regional committees in the performance of their duties.
Useful links:
NC Textbook Commission
LL1885 