I’m frustrated. Again.

Last spring, English teachers throughout the Spokane School District were asked if they would be interested in piloting new curricula for sixth through 10th grades. We were shown the supplies and the online resources; we were promised in-depth training and new textbooks; we were told that our professional opinions would be sought throughout the process.

Sure, there were a few reservations from those professionals who had been teaching their grade-specific curricula for many years and had a solid grasp on what they were doing and how they wanted to do it. Change can be intimidating for anyone. But as a whole, we bought in.

And from the training that we have all gone through this summer, it seems that most of us are on board with the new curricula. It’s new and exciting; it’s engaging and rigorous; it matches Washington state’s grade-level learning expectations. And, to a man/woman, we have all greatly appreciated the time, money and lunches that the district has granted us as we have trained.

However, there’s a rub. And, I believe not coincidentally, that rub was not presented to any of us until midway through the training – the district is not able to purchase student texts for any grade level.

Yes, we teachers will have the teacher texts. Yes, we’ll have teacher copies of DVDs and CDs to use supplementally. Yes, we’ll have enough copies of novels that are required. Yes, we’ll have unlimited access to online materials provided by the textbook company. Yes, we’ve all been trained very well.

But we’ll have no student texts to use. None. Not even a classroom set for students to share. None at all.

Thus, every sixth through 10th grade English teacher in our district will have to go through quite a bothersome process every time she or he wants to teach a single piece of text. Rather than having students simply turn to a particular page in their texts, we’ll have to get our bookroom specialist (if the building even has one) to run off several copies – 30 or so if we want only a classroom set and upwards of 140 if we want every student to have one – several days in advance.

And this process will be repeated dozens and dozens of times over the course of the school year by every sixth through 10th grade English teacher in our district.

Thus, we’ll have all of our previous English textbooks we have used for years doing nothing but collecting dust in our classrooms and bookrooms, since they do not align with the new curricula we have agreed to pilot. Moreover, because the district could not use its budget to buy student texts, individual schools will be forced to use their own budgets on much more paper and toner used in making all of those individual copies.

Simply put, we bought in first; then, afterwards, we decided that we couldn’t fund it properly.

I would liken this lack of financial foresight to an airline company’s training all of its pilots for brand new planes, purchasing all the extras for the best possible flight experience, and then not purchasing the planes.

Now maybe that analogy isn’t seamless, but it sure felt that way to my peers and me when the district told us there would be no student textbooks only after we had agreed to pilot the program.

Granted, there is only so much water in the well, and with recent budgetary issues within our district, some awkward and distasteful financial decisions have had to be made. I don’t envy anyone who has had to make them. However, getting student textbooks should have been a priority throughout this process of establishing new English curricula.

At the end of the two-year piloting program, English teachers from the district will supposedly be asked their professional opinions as to the success or failure of this new program. With absolutely no texts to use with our students, I wonder what the consensus will be.

We have no planes for our assigned passengers.