There are interesting things underway in this area. Textbook publishers have long had an INCESTUOUS relationship with the educational powers that be....and the 99th edition of a college algebra text is no better than the first--except for the bookstore and publisher's bottom lines by obsoleting and hindering re-use by those who would 'save trees' and recycle/share. The books for the K-12 are mostly bought by departments...and are subject to any district/NEA unwritten criteria re: homosexuality, Gaia worship, omission of any POSITIVE Judeo-Christian historical facts...except where school board memberss are all over this like...hmmm, Hawks on Rats. Texas just helped protect the definition of "Marriage" by one board members' watchful eye....
Profs and teachers are routinely authoring books and profiting off them in addition to their salaries, commonly requiring their own books as for the taking of required courses....one wonders how much one must toe the NEA line to win a lucrative publishing contract?
CDs and Distance Learning and computers at home and PDAs with interactive lessons...oh, My! If they really did that WHOLEHEARTEDLY--they wouldn't have to have all the buses and campus facilities for factory indoctrination...but they don't WANT that...WE SHOULD.
SchoolForge.net is Open Source and one thought towards breaking the publishing stranglehold. I have a number of others but will not post them publicly here at this time.
From their site: Schoolforge's mission is to unify independent organizations that advocate, use, and develop open resources for primary and secondary education. Schoolforge is intended to empower member organizations to make open educational resources more effective, efficient, and ubiquitous by enhancing communication, sharing resources, and increasing the transparency of development. Schoolforge members advocate the use of open source and free software, open texts and lessons, and open curricula for the advancement of education and the betterment of humankind.
http://www.schoolforge.net/
Thanks, Blurblogger. That is the kind of info that I'm looking for.