[WSCSS] Grass-roots effort begins to save school libraries

[Linser, William D]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=20040
24530&slug=libraries20m&date=20071120
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024530&slug=libraries20m&date=20071120> 
 

Grass-roots effort begins to save school libraries 

By Lynn Thompson 
Times Snohomish County Bureau 

Supporters of school librarians and library programs have launched a
statewide online petition drive to try to save what they believe is an
endangered school position.

Two parents from the Spokane School District, where budget cuts this
year reduced 10 librarian positions to half-time, want librarians and
library services included in the state's definition of a basic
education.

"We're really, really scared libraries will fall through the cracks,"
said Susan McBurney, who together with Lisa Layera Brunkan is organizing
the petition drive. The petition can be found at
http://gopetition.com/online/15285.html
<http://gopetition.com/online/15285.html> .

So far, more than 430 people have signed.

A task force meeting today in Olympia is considering revisions to the
state education-funding formula. The task force hopes to make
recommendations to the Legislature in September 2008.

Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, said the librarian cuts are symbolic of
the state education-funding crisis. The Federal Way School District cut
20 library positions in 2006 in the face of a $4 million budget
shortfall. 

"When we were forced to eliminate librarians, it sent a clear message
that the state wasn't funding basic education," said Priest, who serves
on the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance created by the 2007
Legislature. 

The petition organizers note that school districts around the state have
made a variety of library-program cutbacks, including replacing
teacher-librarians with aides, assigning librarians to more than one
school, reducing library hours and not replacing retiring librarians. 

An American Library Association task force last year called school
librarians "highly endangered" and placed some of the blame on
high-stakes testing. The ALA report said that little recognition is
given to librarians' work in promoting reading and supporting classroom
teachers. 

Studies in 19 states link strong school libraries to student
achievement, regardless of the district's socio-economic level, said
Marianne Hunter, immediate past president of the Washington Library
Media Association. 

She said her group is joining other library supporters around the state
to have certified teacher-librarians and library programs included in
the state's definition of basic education.

"As the task force tries to solve the issue of education funding, we're
hoping to get on the radar," she said.

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