Librarians Riled Over '65 Percent Solution’

New plan by First Class Education hurts media specialists

By Laura B. Weiss -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2006

Media specialists are expressing mounting concern over a conservative group’s push to require that school districts nationwide dedicate 65 percent or more of their operating budgets to in-class instruction. The problem? School librarians fall outside the definition of “classroom instruction” and will be forced to compete with the likes of guidance counselors, school bus drivers, and cafeteria workers for the remaining 35 percent of the education funding pie.

Under a proposal being dubbed the “65 percent solution” by the Washington, DC–based advocacy group First Class Education (FCE), school districts in states that pass resolutions or ballot initiatives must spend at least 65 cents of every school dollar on classroom instruction—which not only includes classroom teachers, but activities such as field trips, sports, music, and arts. Currently, only four states—New York, Utah, Tennessee, and Maine—spend at least 65 percent of their budgets in classrooms, and nationally, only 61.5 percent of education operational budgets reach classrooms. FCE says the 3.5 percent difference amounts to $13 billion that can be used to increase teachers’ salaries, purchase computers, or pay for other instructional opportunities such as physical education or foreign languages—all without having to dip into taxpayers’ dollars.

FCE isn’t anti–school libraries. The organization is relying on the U. S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to define “classroom instruction,” and unfortunately, that excludes librarians, as well as school nurses, administrators, and those who work in food services and transportation. “Right now there’s no incentive to saving money,” says Tim Mooney, FCE’s director, who argues that school systems need to eliminate inefficiency and waste. “Let’s spend that money in the classroom.”

In Washington, efforts to pass a 65 percent rule are starting to gain some legislative traction, setting off alarm bells among the state’s school librarians. The Washington Library Media Association is “definitely against the 65 percent solution unless it would add in school library media centers,” says Jennifer Maydole, a lobbyist for the group.

Texas Governor Rick Perry last August approved an executive order phasing in a 65 percent classroom formula, and Louisiana and Kansas legislatures approved 65 percent allocation resolutions. To shore up funding, the Kansas Association of School Librarians recently mounted a billboard campaign to save school library jobs. The signs appear along roads across the state and read “Kansas Students Achieve Because of Great School Librarians.”

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota announced January 9 a proposal that 70 percent of operating budgets be spent on classroom instruction, which excludes school libraries, says Elaine Keefe, a lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association and the Minnesota Educational Media Organization. Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Missouri are also considering 65 percent rules, and FCE—which is active in about 20 states—says its goal is to have the rule in place in all 50 states by the end of 2008.

FCE’s chairman, Patrick Byrne, who is also chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, insists that if he had his way, librarians would be included in the definition of classroom instruction. But to do that “would open up a whole can of worms,” he says, because other groups would want the same. Denise Davis, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Research and Statistics, says the group has talked to NCES about changing the definition but it’s “in limbo.”

In an e-mail message to a South Carolina school librarian, FCE’s Mooney says librarians have little to fear from the 65 percent funding proposal because districts claim that libraries make up between .10 percent to .25 percent of the overall operational budget. “Given this and the fact that K–12 spending nationally is going up at four times the rate of inflation, we see no need and no benefit from cutting librarians and libraries in order to reach the 65 percent goal,” Mooney says.

Some education experts say there’s little evidence to substantiate the claim that increasing the percentage of spending on education boosts achievement. Standard & Poors, the bond rating agency, issued a November 2005 report on the 65 percent solution saying that there was a lack of “empirical evidence linking higher student achievement with higher proportional spending levels.” “It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” says Paul Gazzerro, an S&P spokesman.

Opponents of the 65 percent plan acknowledge its broad popular appeal, and Byrne says the proposal garners 79 percent overall approval ratings nationwide. The political agenda behind the 65 percent rule, however, is glaring. FCE’s Web site lists Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, among its supporters. The goal? To galvanize Republican voters in this year’s election, according to an FCE memo obtained by School Library Journal.

“For political reasons it is very helpful that athletics, arts, music, field trips, and instruction and tuition for special needs students are all included in the NCES 'in the classroom spending’ definition,’” the memo reads. “This will deny the validity to the opponent’s arguments of 'Johnny won’t be able to play football, Jane won’t learn the violin, and Joe’s special needs instruction won’t be possible.’”

In the memo, FCE explains how the 65 percent solution dovetails with other Republican priorities like lower taxes. “Republicans will have a viable answer to 'in the classroom improvement of education’ without the need to call for a tax increase,” the memo says.

Listing a series of more “tangible” political benefits, the memo goes on to say, First Class Education’s proposal will “create tremendous tension within” education unions, pitting teachers against administrators. The memo was circulated in 2002 and went to potential funders, says Mooney, insisting that the 65 percent rule is bipartisan since it was also passed by the Democratic Louisiana legislature.

Education may be just the first of the group’s targets. “What’s the percentage the Department of Motor Vehicles spends on administration versus direct service to the public?,” the group asks in the memo.

AASL board members attending the American Library Association's (ALA) midwinter meeting in San Antonio endorsed a resolution on January 22 calling on the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to issue a new definition of media specialists that classifies them as in-classroom instructors.