Lake County committee recommends McGraw Hill packages for K–12 science; board to vote Jan. 13

Lake County Schools staff presented the district's recommended K–12 science instructional materials on Jan. 6, saying a standing adoption committee narrowed publisher options and settled on McGraw Hill packages for most grade bands. The school board is scheduled to consider the recommendations at its Jan. 13 meeting; the district will publish a 30‑calendar‑day objection window on Jan. 14 if the board moves ahead.

The recommendation grew from multi‑school committees that used a Lake County rubric aligned to the Florida Department of Education rubric, staff said. Kelly Dodd, Lake County Schools' instructional materials and media manager, described the rubric's three evaluation areas — content, presentation and learning features — and said elementary, middle and high school committees each reviewed multiple publishers before selecting McGraw Hill as the leading recommendation in most categories.

Committee votes and why it matters

The elementary (K–5) committee narrowed to two publishers and recommended McGraw Hill, which the committee favored by vote totals reported by staff. The middle‑school (grades 6–8) committee narrowed to three publishers and recommended McGraw Hill by a 71% share of committee votes. High‑school committees recommended McGraw Hill for multiple courses — environmental science, biology 1, chemistry, physics and several electives — with reported vote percentages ranging from roughly half to the low 90s depending on the course. Forensic science was the exception: Cengage received a unanimous 100% committee recommendation for that elective.

The committees recommended a mix of printed class sets and digital access rather than an immediate 1:1 printed‑book rollout. Staff said the ‘‘class set plus digital access’’ approach responds to teacher preference and gives the district a physical option when internet access is unavailable.

Costs, fiscal context and timeline

Staff presented cost estimates by grade band and an overall projection. The district reported a projected total fiscal impact for the K–12 science adoption and the concurrent personal finance and money management (PFMM) adoption of $3,953,043.57. A 9–12 line item shown in the presentation was $1,036,960.31; a middle‑school digital‑only scenario was presented at about $773,000. The K–5 total figure shown in the presentation was unclear in the meeting transcript and is therefore not stated here.

District staff said the current instructional materials allocation will not fully cover the recommended purchases and that the general fund would be used to fill part of the gap. Staff said the district has sufficient fund balance to cover this one‑time cost but expressed concern about a larger adoption year coming later that could require a substantially larger appropriation.

Accessibility, digital access and equity concerns

Board members asked how digital materials function offline, compatibility with Chromebooks, and how students without home internet or who need hard copies for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) would be accommodated. Lauren Beasley, McGraw Hill representative, said the McGraw Hill K‑12 portal and app allow students to download whole books or individual chapters for offline use and that work saved offline will sync when a device reconnects. She said the publisher supports digital access across devices, but staff noted school‑to‑school variations in device type and that some publishers' apps may function differently on Chromebooks versus tablets or phones.

Kelly Dodd said the district will provide printed copies for students with accommodations and that class sets can be supplemented with hard copies as needed. Board members raised practical concerns: some schools do not allow class‑set books to go home, and some households lack reliable internet. Staff acknowledged those implementation questions and said supplemental hard copies would be purchased when required by a student’s IEP or other needs.

Other implementation details and committee work

Staff described a deliberate timing strategy: Lake County typically adopts one year after the state list to avoid buying materials that later fail to appear on the state approved list. House Bill 7004 was cited by staff as a factor that moved the state timeline forward and may help districts get back into the state adoption cycle sooner.

Staff emphasized that committees included teachers, program specialists and at least one parent for elementary, middle and high school adoptions. Inventory planning and license management were identified as ongoing tasks; staff said they work with an inventory assistant to forecast how many class sets and digital licenses schools will actually need, acknowledging the difficulty of predicting elective enrollments over a four‑year adoption cycle.

Board action and next steps

The board will consider the recommended science materials at the Jan. 13 board meeting. If approved, the district will publish an objection timeline on Jan. 14 and begin purchasing pending the objection period and any outcomes from that process. Staff said purchases would begin in April if no objections prevent proceeding.

Ending

Presenters asked board members for implementation input and fielded questions about device compatibility, offline availability and IEP accommodations. Board members suggested the upcoming instructional materials audit could supply additional guidance for procurement and usage decisions.