Ensuring all students have equal access to textbooks continues to pose a challenge for Broward County Schools, 11 years after a federal judge ordered the district to address concerns about parity in school spending, according to a report presented to board members on Tuesday.

“We recognize and continually hear that there are students without textbooks,” Michelle Rivera, director of Learning Resources and Instructional Materials told the Broward School Board at a workshop.

Tuesday’s presentation was part of an annual update given to the board stemming from a 1995 lawsuit filed by a group of parents and community activists who formed Citizens Concerned about out Children. They argued successfully at the time that there were inequities in spending between the district’s older schools in the eastern part of the county and newer facilities built out west.

In 2000, a federal judge sided with CCC and ruled that the district had to establish a diversity committee to monitor issues like ensuring that all schools had enough text books and making sure school buildings were being maintained up to standard.

While there wasn’t as large of a push for digital instruction and textbooks when the ruling was rendered more than a decade ago, in today’s digital age Superintendent Robert Runcie said the district needed to expand its current use of online textbooks and other technology to defray the cost of paper books.

“We spend far too much money on textbooks ... we need to look more at digital formats.”

Among the other findings delivered in this year’s report covering the 2010-11 school year:

•  Schools meet the one computer per six students ratio established by the district, but without the ability to invest in new technology, many of the computers are more than five years old and out of warranty.

•  Funding shortages are preventing schools from stocking their media centers with current materials. Schools now spend $5 per student on books and resources, down from $9.80 in elementary and middle schools and $12.80 in high schools allocated two years ago.

•  The A-rated district continues to fall just short of the performance benchmarks established by the settlement. Under the agreement, 90 percent of school must demonstrate a graduation rate equal or higher to the state average or show and increase in graduation rate higher than the state increase, but this past school year only 84.8% percent of high schools met the mark.

Ninety percent of schools are suppose to register learning gains in reading and math FCAT scores, but this year only 83.5 percent of schools met the criteria in reading and 87.3 percent in math.

The report is now headed to the district’s diversity committee - a panel of parents and community activists - who will issue follow-up recommendations to the district in April.