Olympia – By a vote of 88-7, the House voted on a measure that will help local school districts move towards using free, open source course materials in the classroom, a move that could lead to costs savings in the millions down the road.
“We spend about $130 million each biennium in Washington on proprietary textbooks that are ten years old on average,” said Carlyle. “Open source educational materials are the future. They are gaining popularity with school districts all across the nation. They are simple, efficient, easy to use, and dramatically cheaper than proprietary textbooks.”
House Bill 2337 sponsored by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle) would direct the Superintendent of Public Instruction to take the lead in developing open source courseware that is aligned with the new Common Core education standards.
Open source materials are vetted, peer-review materials that are freely available to the public through the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons is a private non-profit corporation that works to provide access to research and educational materials via the internet.
By comparison, a proprietary math and science textbook could cost over $100 per copy. In committee, Carlyle held up an example of an open source math and science textbook that costs $4.16 for a printed version. Digital copies of that same book are available for download for free.
Another advantage to open source materials is the frequency in which they are updated with new information. As new information becomes available, open course materials are updated in real-time.
House Bill 2337 will move to the Senate for consideration. A companion bill, SB 6231 sponsored by Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe (D-Bothell), is under consideration in the Senate.
Additional information:
HB 2337
Reuven Carlyle’s blog
Creative Commons
Common Core Standards
Seattle Times article on open source textbooks in college