The Montgomery County school board voted on Tuesday to brand its elementary school curriculum in an effort to cash in on future national educational standards.
The district will partner with textbook giant Pearson to create tests and lesson plans for kindergarten through fifth grade. Within several years, the school district and the company expect to earn revenue as school systems around the country, and even the globe, buy the curriculum.
Critics worry that the public-private partnership will result in limited flexibility for Montgomery to serve its students as it sees fit, and the possibility of lost funds if the project fails.
“As a taxpayer, please explain why desperately needed resources are being directed away from our children and towards development of a private business,” wrote Montgomery resident Paula Bienenfeld in a letter to the school board urging members to vote against the contract.
The deal takes advantage of two major issues faced by public school systems.
First, states are working together toward the development and adoption of national standards, as opposed to state-by-state standards currently in place. The national standards would create a giant market for companies — and now Montgomery schools — interested in selling materials tied to the standards.
Second, the recession has placed school systems like Montgomery at funding levels lower than they have seen in recent years, meaning school boards are hard up for cash.
“I tend to look at this from the point of view that we’re broke,” Montgomery Superintendent Jerry Weast said at a school board meeting Tuesday.
Weast also stressed that his school system has been developing a new elementary curriculum for several years, and the Pearson partnership — worth at least $2.25 million — would allow that project to move forward more quickly.
“We got [the curriculum] going … and now I’m not sure we can keep it going if we don’t work with another entity to keep it going,” Weast said.
Board member Laura Berthiaume joined one colleague in voting against the contract, citing as her major concern a clause requiring Montgomery staff to be on hand to attest to the quality of the finished project.
“From a taxpayer and a government standpoint, converting our employees into salesmen is not, I don’t think, where we should be,” she said.
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