Back-to-School Blues Felt Nationwide

The kids at the Winthrop (MA) school district, for example, found locked doors at all four school libraries after media specialists lost their jobs in May as a result of 22 layoffs and $1.5 million in cuts. While teachers still have limited access to the media center, they must first track down the roving key that opens the door, says district Superintendent Thomas Giancristiano, who doesn't see the situation improving anytime soon.

Dorothy Mantonya, a media specialist at Marionville (MO) Junior High/High School, still has a job, but her book budget for this year has been slashed from $7,000 to $3,000—certainly not enough to buy the 400 nonfiction books needed to meet the Missouri School Improvement standards. To cut costs, Mantonya has stopped buying circulation cards and only places bar codes on books. She's also applied for local and state grants. Still, she can't afford to buy all of the updated titles, leaving her with no choice but to keep older books on the shelves.

The Hillsboro (OR) Public Library is doing all it can to help the town's school district, which eliminated all 14 media specialist positions this year following $18 million in budget cuts. Upon a teacher's request, the public library will provide extra copies of books or make them available to students for in-library use, says Youth Services Librarian Carol Reich. Meanwhile, the Banks (OR) Public Library acquired a $5,000 municipal grant to purchase books for the Banks school district. Library Director Denise Holmes says she's coordinated with school librarians, toured the collections, performed outreach to teachers, and will do her best to supplement the schools' needs.

School librarians in West Bend, WI, are finding themselves overwhelmed following a decision by the school board to expand their duties to save $50,000 from the 2003–2004 budget. Now media specialists must order and catalog books and materials—a job that was previously reserved for the central office—in addition to serving the needs of teachers and students. High school librarian Patricia Geidel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the money saved isn't worth sacrificing the time librarians spend with students, and that cataloging at different locations will only lead to inconsistent records that will make accessing materials more difficult for students and teachers. Additional cuts are likely this year, given the district's existing $1 million budget gap.

It doesn't end there: at least 11 states have cut overall funding for K–12 education this year, and others are still struggling to resolve their budgets, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And Winthrop Superintendent Giancristiano says FY 2004 looks worse, with Massachusetts anticipating a $1 billion deficit. Moreover, the newly trimmed schools must still adhere to the performance standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Frances Roscello, president of the American Association of School Librarians, says the organization doesn't have national statistics on recent school library cuts, but she has received anecdotal reports of cuts nationwide that "seem to demonstrate a lack of understanding about library media specialists, their programs, and their contribution to student achievement."

Beyond test scores and standards requirements, it's the more tangible loss to children that Mantonya regrets. "I can't get the titles that teachers need," she says. "And it's very difficult to get kids to read, if you don't have up-to-date materials."