New curriculum costly for parish schools by Sunny Meriwether - posted Thursday, January 31st, 2013 @ 12:00 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  The cost of new technology needed for testing under the new Common Core curriculum will put a financial strain on the Ouachita Parish school system over the next few years. The School Board Finance Committee received some preliminary cost estimates for the new curriculum at its meeting Tuesday. Estimates range from $1.9 million for better Internet access to more than $5.7 million for new computers. Under the Common Core curriculum, which the state required all public schools to adopt, students will be tested online. Louisiana is a member of a consortium of states called Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and will implement the online testing in the 2014-2015 academic year. ..... For the full story, subscribe to the The Ouachita Citizen's NEW E-Edition!