Going by the book
Two local groups have announced the largest in-kind donation ever made to the Public Education Foundation, the nonprofit that coordinates philanthropic aid to the Clark County School District.
The Latin Chamber of Commerce and Another Joy Foundation plan to give textbooks they value at $6.8 million to the Public Education Foundation, which will then work with the school district to determine where the books are needed.
Education budget cuts — in particular, “dramatic” reductions in textbook dollars — made the need for help with books all the more acute, says Javier Trujillo, chairman of the Latin Chamber and a former Clark County School District teacher.
Textbook publishers including McGraw-Hill and Pearson sealed the deal by offering huge surpluses of unused books from 2006 or later.
Those books — 122,600 of them — will start making their way into classrooms in at least 25 local schools in the next month. The texts, many of them for bilingual students, will cover areas such as math, science and language arts in all grades.
Both groups say Friday’s donation is just the beginning. They hope to locate and transfer at least an additional $15 million or so worth of books in the next 12 to 18 months.
Of course, it might be worth asking: Why is the district so short on textbooks? Other than classroom personnel, aren’t books pretty much the last spending item you’d expect to cut?
Regardless, Another Joy and the Latin Chamber are to be congratulated for seeing a need and taking action.