Right now, I’m filling out our department wishlist request form for next school year. There are 81 novellas, and 10 textbooks for AP (five Caesar, five Virgil). The total cost of novellas is $691.91, and the total cost for the textbooks is $710. The $710 would cover five students enrolled in AP. The $691.91 will fill my FVR (Free Voluntary Reading) library to include everything currently published, as well as build two additional libraries in other teachers’ classrooms, covering all Latin students at our school.

This all got me thinking of some big questions.

• When funds are tight, who do they tend to go to?
• How many Latin programs would choose to fund the five AP students over the rest?
• What does the decision to offer AP really cost a school beyond the $93 exam fee (i.e. teacher training, materials, etc.)?
• Given what we know about AP Latin, how much time, effort, and money should be allocated?
• How do we place value (beyond $) on different classroom materials?
• Which materials provide the most purposeful CI?
• What’s essential? What’s extra?