RALEIGH (AP) — Schools across North Carolina are dealing with a sharp cut in funding to buy textbooks for students.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that state funding for textbook purchases has been reduce by nearly 80 percent over the past four years.
The state provided more than $111 million to buy textbooks during the 2009-10 fiscal year. For the past three years, it’s been about $23 million annually.
School districts are getting about $14 per student for textbooks. That compares with about $67 per student in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
Drew Fairchild with textbook services at the Department of Public Instruction says most of the money for elementary schools goes to buy workbooks, not textbooks.
Fairchild says new books cost between $39 and $86 each.