AP Students Expected to Buy Own Textbooks

September 16, 2007 – Daniel de Vise of the Washington Post reports that teachers in Potomac, Maryland are coming under fire for requiring students buy textbooks for AP courses. Teachers at Winston Churchill High School say they wanted to give students a college-prep experience by having AP students annotate the actual text, as is done in college, rather than keep separate notes. Exceptions were allowed for students who could not afford the cost of the textbooks. Most parents in the affluent area grumbled but still paid for the expensive texts. This summer, system administrators stopped the practice, but the classes are now facing a different problem -- textbook shortage. The controversy over purchasing textbooks at Churchill highlights the growing list of charges parents can incur for a public school education. De Vise reports that while public systems are required to provide textbooks, some students are being asked to purchase their own test-prep workbooks, pay lab fees, or bring their own supplies previously provided by the school system.