California Open Source Textbook Project

The California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP) is a collaborative, public/private undertaking created to address the high cost, content range, and consistent shortages of K-12 textbooks in California.

The plan

There are three main goals to COSTP:

The cost of K-12 textbooks has risen steadily over the years and critics contend publishing companies artificially increase prices. The state of California currently spends more than US$ 400M annually for K-12 textbooks, and with enrollment projected to rise in the coming years, revenue demands for textbooks and other curriculum materials will surely increase.

COSTP will employ the advantages of open-sourced content and innovative licensing tools to significantly reduce California's K-12 textbook costs — eventually turning K-12 curriculum and textbook construction from a cost into a revenue generator for the State of California. Open sourced, distributed content can be made available gratis, and/or through the use of innovative copyright tools provided by organizations like Creative Commons, its partners, and other organizations.

COSTP's currently projected benefits are:

It is important to note that COSTP's mandate does not replace printed textbooks, but simply making them less expensive to produce. This creates many additional efficiencies that will fully leverage California's activities in the K-12 textbook publishing domain.

The future

COSTP is projected to augment the current K-12 textbook supply chain, be self-supporting with 18 months of starting up, and save the State of California upwards of US$ 200M+ per year for K-12 textbook allocation within five years.

In phase two of the COSTP plan (following year five), California will be able to offer (by license, at nominal cost) K-12 textbook and curriculum materials to other educational organizations and international agencies. This should create substantial cost savings for those entities, and will result in a revenue generator for California.

See also

External links

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This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 07, 2011. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.