Local control scares me quite a bit because in Kansas and Texas, the textbooks would have taught about creationism and not evolution and God knows what other Right-Wing agendas.

OTOH, I don't want it under any political system because that is too open to corruption, lobbying, partisanship and other crap. It should be handled at a national level by educators, not appointed or elected. Lists of those willing to write textbooks should be made by the various Universities and the textbook authors come from those lists. Could choose by lottery from those WILLING to do it in each field. It would also make some money for underpaid educators. Could have 2-3 books for each subject, all peer reviewed and then available for purchase by various schools.

Books aren't going to be used much longer. The Kindle and other reading devices will replace those so that students don't have to spend a fortune on textbooks. I bought used books when I could. They were nice because my predecessors made some neat notes that I used.

Another thought. They could even parcel out chapters on some subjects to various educators, each from a particular expert, and compile into into one books. They do that in many Medical textbooks. I've worked on those with my former employer. That way students got the best info from the best of the best in the various fields and subfields.