ShareThisBy SHIRIN PARSAVAND and JULIA GLICK
The Press-Enterprise
Thursday, November 01, 2007
California legislation passed more than five years ago was supposed to lighten the load for students lugging thick textbooks to school each day.
But many students are still weighed down by heavy backpacks and book bags.
The law's regulations took effect only a few months ago, and many students may not feel their effects for at least a few years.
Under the 2002 law, textbook publishers must offer school districts ways to cut the weight. Regulations adopted in July require the publishers to offer lightweight alternatives to especially heavy texts, which could include splitting textbooks into multiple volumes or offering digital versions.
Students in some districts already are leaving heavy textbooks in their lockers and doing their homework with CD-ROM and Web-based versions.
Corona High School sophomore Dakota Sekel used the CD-ROM for his world history class for the first time three weeks ago.
Dakota, 15, said he is happy he no longer has to lug home his history book, which runs 900 pages and weighs five pounds. The CD-ROM had all the same material as the book. He still regularly takes home his English textbook but leaves his others in his locker since those classes do not rely on the textbook for homework.
He said he used to hunch his shoulders as he walked home with his backpack.
"Now, I just put it on my back and start walking," he said. "It's a big difference."
The principal author of the 2002 textbook legislation, former state Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, said he is glad publishers now at least must offer alternatives to textbooks that can weigh five or six pounds.
"I have four kids going to public schools. They utilize all those textbooks and I see they are massive," said Pacheco, now Riverside County's district attorney. "It has been kind of worrying me since I passed the legislation."
The law cited studies linking heavy backpacks to spinal column injuries, back pain and significant shifts in student posture.
Pacheco's law called for the State Board of Education to create maximum weight standards for textbooks.
Instead, the board chose to permit heavier books on the condition publishers provide alternatives. Their regulations were approved and took effect in July, said Tom Adams, director of curriculum frameworks and instructional resources with the state Department of Education.
Since California adopted its textbook regulations, other states have inquired about its approach, Adams said. California represents about 15 percent of the nation's textbook market.
Publishers objected when the California law contained a weight cap, because it gave little flexibility to manufacturers who work to cram hundreds of pages of state standards into the books, said Jay Diskey, executive director of the school division of the Association of American Publishers.
One option suggested, using lighter-weight materials, could make the books less durable, he added.
He said Georgia is the only other state with regulations aimed at creating alternatives to heavy textbooks. In Georgia, publishers must provide all the content of the textbook in a PDF file.
Textbook publishers are happier with the new regulations and are responding to the state's mandate, with many opting to add a CD-ROM in a pocket of the book's back cover, he said.
