Backpacks for lugging heavy textbooks may be a thing of the past under a budget proposal approved by lawmakers that requires schools to adopt digital textbooks in four years.
Florida would be one of the first states in the country to set up a timeline for a conversion to electronic textbooks if this measure, which was contained in an education budget bill, is signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.
“Everyone realizes that digital seems to be the wave of the future and in many respects, the future is now,” said Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, who helped craft the education budget.
The proposal (SB 2120) requires Florida public schools to adopt digital-only textbooks by the 2015-16 school year, and spend at least 50 percent of their textbook budget on digital materials by that time.
