No college or state textbook authority currently requires a warranty on accuracy, nor does any textbook publisher offer one.  At least one school district has been upset enough with the poor accuracy of textbooks to call for such a warranty along with implementing procedures.  The Simi Valley Unified School District Board of Education in California voted unanimously in June 2001 for state legislation.  In August 2007 it implemented its own review process for textbook errors.

             The district was required to use the history textbook Oh, California! by Houghton Mifflin.  Unfortunately,  the book was laced with numerous errors, contradictions, and omissions.  For instance, it stated that the southern border of California with Mexico was the Rio Grande, that Columbus started out from Portugal, that the Pony Express started at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, instead of the real starting point at St. Joseph, Missouri; that the first gas station in the world opened in 1909 in California; that Malibu and Santa Monica are somehow in the San Fernando Valley; that famous Governor Hiram Johnson was mayor of San Francisco (he wasn’t); that every day Californians use an average of 70 gallons of water for drinking, cooking, baking, and cleaning; that the transcontinental railroad went south of Lake Tahoe instead of north of it; and that borax was still being mined in Death Valley (the 20-mule teams stopped transporting from Death Valley in the 1920s).

              Like many states, California has a statutory requirement for accurate textbooks.  Unfortunately, virtually no program implements this requirement.  Even the state Board of Education's Curriculum Committee (which approves textbooks for statewide purchase by local school districts for certain grades) places no premium on accuracy for reviewing prospective textbook adoptions, nor does it have a program to solicit or receive complaints of inaccuracies in adopted textbooks, nor does it require a warranty on publishers for accuracy.

          There are tens of thousands of school districts in the country.  All are faced with the same crucial problem.  Below is a copy of the landmark resolution of the Simi Valley Unified School District.  We can all give thanks for the Board of Education in its promotion of excellence in education.  We urge other districts to adopt similar ones.  As they do, they will be posted on this website.

SIMI VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

RESOLUTION NO. 98/2000

IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION FOR ACCURACY IN TEXTBOOKS

   BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Education of the Simi Valley Unified School District:

    WHEREAS,    There is support for legislation at the state level to promote accuracy in
                              textbooks and other instructional materials; and

    WHEREAS,    A requirement that all publishers of textbooks and instructional materials
                             provide an accuracy warranty; and

    WHEREAS,    A requirement that all textbooks and instructional materials include a notice of
                             an appropriate state government office address and phone number to which
                             complaints of inaccuracies can be lodged; and

    WHEREAS,    A requirement that the appropriate state government office determine if the
                             complaint is valid; and

    WHEREAS,    A requirement that the publisher supply errata sheets for all inaccuracies to be
                             inserted into all affected textbooks and instructional materials at their own
                             expense; and

    WHEREAS,    A requirement that following the adoption of all textbooks and instructional
                             materials at the state level there should be a period following submission of the
                             final version in order that the public have the opportunity to review the
                             materials for accuracy.

    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Simi Valley Unified School District Board of
    Education supports legislation for accuracy in textbooks.

    PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Education of the Simi Valley Unified School District
    at the meeting on June 5, 2001, by the following vote:

       AYES:   Debbie Sandland   Steven Gould   Carla Kurachi   Norman Walker   Janice DiFatta

    _________________________________       ___________________________________
    Janice DiFatta                                                           Joyce C. Mahdesian, Ed.D., Superintendent
    President to the Board of Education                     Secretary to the Board of Education

Simi Valley Unified School District, 875 E. Cochran Street, Simi Valley, California 93065 805-306-4506

Kathryn S. Scroggin Ed.D., Superintendent