Sponsors
The bill aims to reduce student textbook costs and expand accessible, adaptable open educational resources, but it does so via federal programs and reporting that may increase taxpayer and institutional costs, add administrative burdens, and disrupt existing publisher/bookstore markets.
Students—especially low-income students—would pay less for required course materials because grants and policies promote open educational resources and require openly available textbooks and materials.
Students and instructors gain broader access to adaptable, up‑to‑date instructional materials and professional development that can support course redesign and teaching quality.
Students with disabilities benefit because the bill requires or funds accessibility features (e.g., machine-readable, Section 508–conforming materials), making educational content usable by a wider range of learners.
Federal taxpayers could face increased spending because the program is authorized at unspecified sums and implementation and reporting (including the GAO study) consume federal resources.
Colleges, faculty, and campus bookstores may incur ongoing administrative and staff burdens (creating, vetting, maintaining, reporting on, and publishing materials and enrollment data), shifting costs and time onto institutions.
Open textbook adoption risks variable quality and added faculty workload because institutions may need to vet, adapt, or create materials without guaranteed resources for robust review.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 5, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress March 5, 2025
Creates a federal competitive grant program to support development, adaptation, and wider adoption of open textbooks at colleges and universities, requires stronger course-materials disclosures (including identification of open educational resources and digital publisher data-use summaries), directs accessibility and open-license rules for new materials, and orders GAO and Department of Education reporting on costs, adoption, and impacts. Grants may pay for professional development, creation/adaptation of open textbooks and supplemental materials, and research; new works must be released under a royalty-free open license and made publicly available in accessible, editable formats.