High Cost of Textbooks

I am sure that I am not the only one who calculated the average cost of school textbooks from the figures given in your article (Aug. 7). As a teacher in the San Marcos Unified School District, I must say that the $56 average is quite accurate. Of a much greater concern, however, is the lack of any control over the condition of the books once they are placed in the hands of the students. Current law requires schools to supply students with the necessary tools for learning but, in the case of returnable supplies such as textbooks, does not provide for any meaningful penalty for loss or defacement. This means that a fair percentage of texts will need to be replaced each year.

Perhaps a legislator will be willing to begin the process of revising the Education Code to allow schools to collect deposits on textbooks, or to treat textbook abuse as any other act of school vandalism. Until this happens we will continue to hand over $200 or so worth of books to each student each semester with no guarantee that the books will be usable for the seven years that the state requires.

STEPHEN DREW

Vista