California Textbook Page Limit

It would be difficult to make up a story about public schools that was more absurd than this story from the Sacramento Bee (Registration Required):

Lawmakers voted Thursday to ban school districts from purchasing textbooks longer than 200 pages.
The bill, believed to be the first of its kind nationwide, was hailed by supporters as a way to revolutionize education.

Critics lambasted Assembly Bill 756 as silly.

Silly doesn't even begin to describe it. As the Center for Local Liberty notes:

The bill would exclude The Federalist Papers, the Bible, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, innumerable classic novels, just for starters.

Maybe therein lies the explanation?

(Via Captain's Quarters)