Representative Don Humason



TEXTBOOK SHENANIGANS By Representative Don Humason, Jr. October 6, 2007 On Tuesday of this past week, I had the unusual and unfortunate situation where three of the four committees that I serve on were all scheduled to meet at the same time. Luckily, this doesn’t happen often, but it is not unusual for a legislator to have more than one meeting or hearing scheduled for the same moment. To make matters worse, I also had a caucus of Republican House members at that time, so I ended up missing all three hearings. One of those hearings was for the Joint Committee on Higher Education and we were scheduled to hear public testimony on House Bill 1200 regarding college textbook prices. I recently wrote a letter to the editor/op ed piece about the topic from the point of view both of a legislator who represents a public college and a graduate of Westfield State College who well remembers the problems with affording his new textbooks. Right now, college students at Westfield State College, in my House district, and across Massachusetts are being held hostage by powerful publishing companies by the exorbitant costs of their course textbooks. According to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, the average college student spends about $900 on textbooks each year. Not only are textbook prices high, they’re rising. Textbook prices have skyrocketed at four times the rate of inflation over the last decade. Why? One reason is the lack of competition in the textbook market. Consolidation in the last decade has reduced the number of major publishers from several dozen to just five. Furthermore, students, as a group, have very little purchasing power because textbook decisions aren’t made by them but by the faculty who decide which textbooks a student must buy for their class. When selecting course materials, college professors can’t make the right choices for their students if they don’t have the options and the information that they need. Seventy five percent of professors report that publishers’ representatives do not disclose price information to them during sales meetings. Furthermore, low cost or no frills options of texts, if any, are often unavailable or hard to find. Textbook publishers have a captive audience on college campuses statewide. They engage in shenanigans aimed at maximizing their profits despite the needs of their consumers. New editions of textbooks are issued frequently by publishers to drive up the cost and make it difficult for students to find cheaper used copies. Another publishing tactic which drives up prices is the ‘bundling’ of books with additional materials such as CDROMS, work books, and study guides. There is currently legislation filed in Massachusetts which would require publishers to disclose price information to faculty and require that any bundled book also be available ‘a la carte’. The Higher Ed Committee is polling members about this and other recent bills with the goal of reporting them out of committee with a favorable, or “ought to pass” recommendation. I concurred with the committee chair’s recommendation of a favorable report on this bill. On Thursday I taped a new installment of my cable show “From the State House to Your House.” My guest this month is Shirley Alvira, Westfield’s new school superintendent. The show airs next Wednesday at 8:30 PM on Channel 15. My thanks to my guest, Superintendent Alvira, and to Mark St. Jean, the show’s producer. I received a call from Governor Deval Patrick’s office with information I wanted to pass on to you. The Governor is reopening the Western Massachusetts Governor’s office in Springfield starting November 1. The address is 436 Dwight Street, 3rd floor. No word yet on a phone number or hours of operation. But as a public official from the Golden West, I can only say I’m glad to have that office open again. * * * Representative Don Humason and his new aide Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Their Boston address is State House Room 542, Boston, MA 02133, (617) 722-2803. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us
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TEXTBOOK SHENANIGANS

By Representative Don Humason, Jr.

October 6, 2007

On Tuesday of this past week, I had the unusual and unfortunate situation where three of the four committees that I serve on were all scheduled to meet at the same time. Luckily, this doesn’t happen often, but it is not unusual for a legislator to have more than one meeting or hearing scheduled for the same moment.

To make matters worse, I also had a caucus of Republican House members at that time, so I ended up missing all three hearings.

One of those hearings was for the Joint Committee on Higher Education and we were scheduled to hear public testimony on House Bill 1200 regarding college textbook prices.

I recently wrote a letter to the editor/op ed piece about the topic from the point of view both of a legislator who represents a public college and a graduate of Westfield State College who well remembers the problems with affording his new textbooks.

Right now, college students at Westfield State College, in my House district, and across Massachusetts are being held hostage by powerful publishing companies by the exorbitant costs of their course textbooks.

According to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, the average college student spends about $900 on textbooks each year. Not only are textbook prices high, they’re rising. Textbook prices have skyrocketed at four times the rate of inflation over the last decade.

Why? One reason is the lack of competition in the textbook market. Consolidation in the last decade has reduced the number of major publishers from several dozen to just five. Furthermore, students, as a group, have very little purchasing power because textbook decisions aren’t made by them but by the faculty who decide which textbooks a student must buy for their class.

When selecting course materials, college professors can’t make the right choices for their students if they don’t have the options and the information that they need. Seventy five percent of professors report that publishers’ representatives do not disclose price information to them during sales meetings.

Furthermore, low cost or no frills options of texts, if any, are often unavailable or hard to find. Textbook publishers have a captive audience on college campuses statewide. They engage in shenanigans aimed at maximizing their profits despite the needs of their consumers.

New editions of textbooks are issued frequently by publishers to drive up the cost and make it difficult for students to find cheaper used copies. Another publishing tactic which drives up prices is the ‘bundling’ of books with additional materials such as CDROMS, work books, and study guides.

There is currently legislation filed in Massachusetts which would require publishers to disclose price information to faculty and require that any bundled book also be available ‘a la carte’.

The Higher Ed Committee is polling members about this and other recent bills with the goal of reporting them out of committee with a favorable, or “ought to pass” recommendation. I concurred with the committee chair’s recommendation of a favorable report on this bill.

On Thursday I taped a new installment of my cable show “From the State House to Your House.” My guest this month is Shirley Alvira, Westfield’s new school superintendent. The show airs next Wednesday at 8:30 PM on Channel 15. My thanks to my guest, Superintendent Alvira, and to Mark St. Jean, the show’s producer.

I received a call from Governor Deval Patrick’s office with information I wanted to pass on to you. The Governor is reopening the Western Massachusetts Governor’s office in Springfield starting November 1. The address is 436 Dwight Street, 3rd floor. No word yet on a phone number or hours of operation. But as a public official from the Golden West, I can only say I’m glad to have that office open again.

* * *

Representative Don Humason and his new aide Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Their Boston address is State House Room 542, Boston, MA 02133, (617) 722-2803. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us

This Site Designed and Maintained by: The Barre Group