I don't think change in this area is going to come from within (unless the reason for change is financial). If/when it happens, I think it will be the result of external pressure that comes from things like Khan Academy and open-source textbooks proving themselves to be better than paid textbooks.

I've thought about working on a free site to help parents/students locate the best free online math resource that can help them with a specific question, worksheet, homework assignment, etc. As a tutor, I've frequently heard from parents that they know these types of things exist on the internet, but that they have no clue how to find the right Khan video that will help with tonight's homework.

If anyone is interested in this sort of thing, please get in touch.

In the US, there's usually a local school board for the city that's in charge of buying textbooks. Of course, there's a lot of different factors that they have to account for, like state and federal standards, as well as the limitations of their own budgets.