TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — We are following through on an I-Team investigation that affects both students and taxpayers.
Three years ago, Scripps News Group exposed records that suggested small school districts were paying higher rates for textbooks—while larger ones were getting a break.
WATCH: Florida sues textbook giants for alleged $60M fraud: '5,900 instances of Overcharges,' governor says
Now the state has filed a lawsuit seeking to claw back millions of dollars from two of the nation’s largest textbook publishing companies.
Call from a whistleblower
The story first came to light when we got an anonymous phone call from someone we had never met in 2022.
He was a whistleblower who went by the name “John Doe” for our purposes and for purposes of contacting the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the Governor’s Office, and the Chief Financial Officer’s Office through a Tallahassee law firm.
The source provided invoices, emails, and other documents he received through open records requests from a dozen Florida school districts.
Those documents showed some of Florida's rural school districts were paying more than they should for textbooks.
On Tuesday, Gov. DeSantis announced that the state was taking legal action against textbook publishing giants Savas Learning Company and McGraw Hill.
“Today we're announcing that we're taking action against two major textbook publishers that have been exploiting our school districts at the expense of our taxpayers and at the expense of our students,” DeSantis said at a press conference, flanked by Florida Attorney General Jame Uthmeier and state and local school officials.
“The complaint filed by the Attorney General states that there have been at least 5,900 instances of overcharges by these textbook publishers,” DeSantis said.
Lawsuit alleges rural districts were charged more
Textbook prices are negotiated by the Florida Department of Education, and under state law, publishers may not exceed the lowest price at which they're offered for sale to any state or school district.
“And they have to provide freebies to everyone if they provide them anywhere,” said lobbyist Chris Doolan when we interviewed him about the allegations in 2022.
Doolan represents the Small School District Council Consortium, made up of superintendents and school board members from Florida's 39 smallest school districts.
“They just didn't get the benefit, which needs to be put into the equation of commodity paid for commodity free equals unit price, and it's below the state rate,” Doolan said.
In 2022, we visited Citrus County, one of the Tampa Bay area school districts affected.
Citrus County Schools paid between $138 and $143 for each Savas English language arts textbook, depending on the grade level.
But an invoice from Miami Dade schools provided by the whistleblower shows Miami Dade schools received one free book for every 10 Savas “My Florida Perspective” English language arts books ordered.
If Citrus County schools got the same deal, the district would have saved $135,000.
A document from Polk County Schools obtained through a records request shows publisher McGraw Hill offered the district “confidential pricing,” with a discount of $865,000.
Statewide, the alleged violations add up to millions.
“The civil penalties for this alleged textbook fraud could amount to between $37.5 million and $60.5 million between the two publishers, and so this is something significant,” Gov. DeSantis said.
Whistleblower identified
We learned from court documents unsealed this week that the man from whom we obtained the documents in 2022 is Ethan Fieldman of Gainesville, FL.
Fieldman is a University of Florida grad who founded the education company Study Edge, which provides tutoring to college students nationwide.
He provided a statement, saying ,“Every dollar spent on textbooks is a dollar that could be invested in raising teacher salaries, enhancing campus safety, providing meals for low-income students, or meeting the many other critical needs of our students.”
Textbook companies’ responses
We contacted both textbook companies about the lawsuit.
Statement from Savvas Learning Company
Savvas Learning Company has policies and procedures in place to comply with applicable statutes governing the procurement of instructional materials. We have always been, and continue to be, committed to complying with all laws and regulations pertaining to the sale of our instructional materials. We never charged Florida school districts more than the state contract price.
We will not publicly comment any further on this litigation and will defend our company vigorously against the allegations made by the Florida attorney general.
A MCGRAW HILL SPOKESPERSON WROTE...
“We believe the AG’s claims lack factual and legal merit on multiple grounds. We plan to defend our position vigorously.”
