Free textbooks? Federal government is on track with a pilot program. - The Washington Post

"The federal government’s first major investment in the free use of textbooks remains on track, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday in a letter examining a pilot program by the Education Department. Congress designated $5 million in the fiscal 2018 budget to support the creation or expansion of open-educational resources: peer-reviewed academic material released under an intellectual property license that permits free use. The money is an outgrowth of legislation Durbin introduced in the fall. [Battle over college course material is a textbook example of technological change] Weeks after the bill was signed into law in March, Durbin and other Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urging her to use the legislation as a road map to carry out the pilot program. Lawmakers listed several conditions for the creation of the program. They include using the full $5 million, giving special consideration to projects with the greatest potential to save students money and creating materials and licensing them to the public...."