New York Errs
School libraries just missed getting an infusion of money, but they're optimistic it will come
Staff -- School Library Journal, 7/1/2000
New York State's ailing school libraries came "this close" to getting an historic $15 million in new state aid next year, but the proposal was dropped during final negotiations on the fiscal year 2001 budget. 
Though the library money would have been a drop in the bucket in the state's $13- billion school-aid package, it would have signaled a profound shift in New York, which does not require elementary schools to have certified librarians and gives school libraries a mere $6 per student for materials. The result is that many libraries, particularly in rural elementary schools and New York City, are without media specialists or much of a library program at all.
Though disappointed by this year's budget outcome, supporters of the proposal say they remain hopeful about getting the funding passed in the near future. The big hurdle, they say, was simply getting a line for libraries included at all in the state's categorical school-aid proposal. (The $6 per student is not part of that budget.) "There has never been new state aid funded in the first year, but this aid will go in [the budget proposal] next year also," says Sara Kelly Johns, a media specialist and member of a state commission charged with studying New York library needs.
The work of that commission, appointed by the state's Board of Regents (which is similar to a state board of education) is largely responsible for the new focus on school libraries in New York. In its draft report (www.nysl.nysed.gov/rcols/draftrpt.htm#Implementing), the commission called on the state to ensure that New York students have strong library media programs "that include appropriately certified professional staff."--Andrea Glick
