Lake County board to consider districtwide ELA curriculum adoption with roughly $5 million price tag
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Summary
District staff recommended adopting Benchmark Advance for K–5 and McGraw Hill/StudySync for grades 6–12, presenting a multi‑year procurement plan with an estimated bottom‑line purchase impact near $5.2 million; the board was briefed on consumable options, novel selection and implementation timing and was told the adoption will appear on a forthcoming board agenda.
Lake County Schools staff recommended that the board adopt new ELA instructional materials for K–12 and reviewed components, options and fiscal impact at the workshop.
Dr. Feltner and the district instructional materials team presented a recommendation based on committee and teacher input: Benchmark Advance as the recommended K–5 package and McGraw Hill (StudySync) for the secondary 6–12 adoption. Dr. Feltner explained the packages include teacher editions, student consumables or class sets, digital access and assessment components. "We have 3 choices that were state approved for elementary and 3 choices for secondary," she said, and reported that site votes and the committee overwhelmingly favored Benchmark Advance for K–5.
Staff walked trustees through cost scenarios and procurement plans. Key figures discussed included an estimated K–5 and secondary package subtotal of roughly $5.8 million and, after accounting for carryover, shipping and some gap‑year reorders, a bottom‑line impact of approximately $5.2 million on the instructional materials budget. Staff also identified about $1 million in current carryover funds and noted the district typically budgets about $3 million annually for such purchases; finance staff said the board will need to identify an additional $1–2 million during the budget process to fully fund immediate purchases.
Questions from trustees focused on operational details: novel selection (one novel per student vs class sets), whether 1:1 consumable student editions should be allowed to go home to support family engagement, and the recurring‑cost profile for digital components. Staff said consumables are feasible and that publishers will provide sample materials to curriculum writing teams; publisher representatives in the room confirmed they can supply classroom sets for planning.
Next steps: the team will place the recommended adoption on the board agenda next week for formal action and the public objection window for the materials will run Feb. 10 through Mar. 12, after which staff will execute procurement and plan rollout if the board approves the adoption.