Baltimore Sun: Baltimore County schools spent $5 million on textbooks, curriculum despite warnings

State had advised against such work because of new national standards

 By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore County school leaders disregarded advice from state officials and forged ahead to overhaul the teaching of English, spending more than $5 million over the past few years to buy textbooks that mostly sit unused and to rewrite a curriculum that has been shelved.

The system spent about $2.2 million on a 27-year-old grammar textbook with outdated references to encyclopedias and almanacs, both barely used by today's students, according to school system documents. The textbook and accompanying workbooks remained in a warehouse for nearly a year, and school officials acknowledged they are just now being delivered.

The rewrite of the language arts program and the creation of a new linguistics curriculum to supplement it began in 2009 and continued through last school year, despite state warnings that Maryland was about to change what should be taught in English — potentially rendering the Baltimore County effort fruitless. The system also paid teachers to work on the curriculum overhaul and purchased other English books. Superintendent Joe A. Hairston defended the school system's actions, saying that the expense for curriculum writing isn't unusual and that new grammar books were needed.

But Hairston acknowledged that the school district is now redoing its language arts curriculum for a second time to align with a state and national effort. And the county's curriculum chief says the first rewrite of the language arts curriculum has been set aside. The linguistics curriculum was released, but hasn't been widely used, according to teachers and administrators.

Critics, including parents and Baltimore County Councilman David Marks, question whether the school district used its resources wisely. And school board members grilled school system staff Tuesday night about the language arts curriculum and some of the book purchases.

Marks said in an e-mail before the meeting that the school board should "determine why taxpayer money was spent this way."

"At first blush, it doesn't make sense to spend money on resources that wouldn't fit in with a new state-mandated model," Marks said.

Laurie Taylor Mitchell, a parent and vocal advocate for more spending on school buildings, said: "The waste of money is appalling."

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