Urge Your Congressmen to Cosponsor the SKILLs Act
By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 8/2/2007 11:10:00 AM
The American Library Association is urging librarians to contact their representatives in Washington, DC, to cosponsor the SKILLS Act.
The bill, with backing from Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), would require a state-certified media specialist in every K-12 school building by 2010 and include school librarians in the “highly qualified” category of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
NCLB, President Bush’s signature education reform law, is up for renewal later this year.
Grijalva and Ehlers today sent a “Dear Colleague” letter asking members of Congress to cosponsor their bill, officially known as the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries Act.
“With limited resources, school administrators are struggling to stretch dollars, and library resource budgets are increasingly being used to make up for shortfalls in other areas,” the letter reads.
The SKILLs Act ensures that much-needed library funds will be available to purchase books and materials for elementary, middle, and high schools students nationwide, including those with special learning needs and use English as a second language.
The SKILLs Act may be included as part of NLCB.
