The head of the state Senate Finance Committee said Wednesday he wants public schools to start using Internet-based textbooks. “There’s no reason why we can’t go to online books now with everybody’s access to the Internet at schools and homes,” state Sen. Mike Michot told the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge. “That is something that needs to be pushed,” said Michot, R-Lafayette.
The idea is an example of how state government could work smarter as revenue continues to drop, he said.
Michot said after the speech that he asked Senate staff to look into the possibilities and costs of replacing traditional paper textbooks with texts that are available to students using computers only. Depending on what staffers find, Michot said he would file a bill requiring online textbooks or a file resolution asking the state’s school board, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, to consider how to implement such a plan.
