Pasco School Board skips math book adoption

After learning of the state’s plans to review and revise academic standards, Pasco County school district leaders said they had no reservations about adopting new textbooks anyway.

It will take time to move any alterations from adoption to content to classroom, they said, and kids still have to learn.

But when it came time for a vote on the books Tuesday, superintendent Kurt Browning told the School Board he had pulled the K-8 math titles from consideration, and decided to add another year using current algebra and geometry texts before considering changes to them.

Without comment, the board then quickly adopted the recommended fine arts and world history textbooks that remained on the list.

That decision, however, did not mean Pasco schools will go without needed math materials, Browning said after the meeting.

The district will continue to use Eureka Math, a web-based, Common Core-aligned curriculum, which means adoption wasn’t needed, Browning explained.

“We’re proceeding,” he said. “We’ll have discussions about procuring vs. adopting.”

The district started using Eureka in its lowest performing schools about four years ago, with a changeover from Go Math! in all elementary schools in 2017.

“We’re getting good results,” Browning said. “We’re moving forward with what we’ve been doing in math. We still teach those standards for at least the next two years.”