The Hutchinson School Board approved English and language arts textbook purchases on Monday.

The district will purchase textbooks from Sadlier for kindergarten through fifth grade for $177,305.13 and from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for grades six through 12 for $425,391.50. The district will purchase additional phonics textbooks and leveled readers for the K-6 adoption later this spring.

English/language arts is a major textbook adoption for the district with money for the purchase coming from the textbook fund. State law allows schools to accumulate money in the textbook fund over several years because major textbook adoptions are expensive.

The district began the adoption process during the 2012-13 school year with the district’s English/Language Arts Task Force studying the research and best practices. The task force also reviewed state standards, assessed the district’s current situation through student learning data, developed beliefs and common commitments and heard presentations from several vendors.