LET'S MAKE SURE KIDS HAVE TEXTBOOKS.

Byline: Tony Cardenas  Local View

When I went to public high school and textbooks for the year were handed out, I would always laugh after opening the inside cover. Every year I would find the names of my older brothers and sisters penciled in. As the youngest of 11 children, this meant I laughed a lot when I got my books.

But now I realize sharing the same textbook as my siblings, some who were 15 years older than me, was no laughing matter. My education was compromised by outdated textbooks.

Today, little has changed.

California is still experiencing an alarming textbook shortage. The seriousness of the problem struck home again when I visited a junior high school in my district and noticed a stack of worn and tattered geography books inside a classroom. A student explained that he watched as a retiring teacher threw the books away in a bin. The student then sheepishly said he grabbed one from the bin and showed his teacher. Although they were 30-year-old geography books that contained countries that no longer existed, a teacher sent him back to retrieve the remainder of the books reasoning that old textbooks were better than no textbooks.

And that teacher was not alone.

More than half of California teachers surveyed recently say they do not have enough books for students to take home for homework and test preparation. Many more teachers say that they waste valuable class time doing activities to compensate for the textbook shortage.

California is ranked at the bottom, 47 out of 50 states, in per pupil textbook spending. In the richest state in the union, I believe our children deserve better than this. Too many children have gone without textbooks for too long.

You have an opportunity to change this by voting for Proposition 20, the Cardenas Textbook Act of 2000. This proposition would help end this textbook shortage by creating a continuous long-term supply of funds for instructional materials, all without increasing taxes or expanding the California Lottery.

Throughout the state, schools have suffered too long without adequate books. Locally, the Los Angeles Unified School District has been plagued by these textbook shortages for years. Currently the district gives schools only $17 per student each year for new books, but many textbooks cost more than $20.

On Jan. 5 the Daily News reported that LAUSD recently discovered an obscure account they held in which schools could borrow money to purchase books. That is not how learning institutions should receive their instructional materials.

Although interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the $12.7 million inthe account will be doled out as loans that will be forgiven, what will happen when that money runs out?

Proposition 20 would ensure that no loans would need to be taken, none would need to be forgiven and that teachers and students would have a funding source for new instructional materials for years to come.

Proposition 20 would change the way the annual lottery revenues are distributed to public education. Basically, Proposition 20 would require that of the future growth in lottery funds, half must go to K-14 public schools and be spent on instructional materials.

For example, the California State Lottery estimates that the total 1999-00 allocation of lottery money to public education will be $980 million. Based on this amount, Proposition 20 would result in the allocation of $80 million for books for students in kindergarten all the way through two-year colleges. That not only would mean new textbooks every year for our students, but the latest CD-roms, video and audio tapes to highlight lessons. Cutting edge science kits and updated geography maps would also be available. All of this would make learning exciting again for our students.

As we begin the 21st century, let's guarantee our children that the California Lottery will finally be used for what it was intended for - to provide our children with a quality education.

I urge you to vote yes on Proposition 20.