Filed by Michael Cross in Education, Feature, Local News, News, Politics.
February 8, 2010

The State Senate is considering legislation which would allows schools to use the money normally dedicated to textbooks for other educational expenses.

Senator Gary Stanislawski says he wrote SB 1784 after learning that schools were facing teacher job cuts while holding millions of dollars in textbook expenses.

He says the money could go to other expenses like saving those jobs.

“The dollars will be flexible enough to use in other areas if they need that. But, we’re giving the choice to the local school district on how best to use those resources.”

The Tulsa Republican says the districts would only be able to use the money allocated for the next fiscal year and would not be ongoing.

He says Tulsa School District is getting $2 million in funding for textbooks which if used to retain teachers then 50 jobs could be saved.