Arizona Says Librarians Aren't Teachers

Are school librarians teachers? If you asked most media specialists, the answer would be an unequivocal "yes." And if you looked at Information Power—the American Association of School Librarians' Bible for the profession—you'd see page after page about the ways a good school librarian is "essential to learning and teaching." But apparently the folks at the Arizona Department of Education haven't read Information Power.

In April, the department ruled that librarians were not eligible for pay raises from a new pot of state money, because the money was meant only for "classroom teachers." Needless to say, the ruling has not been well received by the state's school librarians. (Nor, presumably, by other professionals, like counselors and speech therapists, who were also knocked out of the teacher definition.)

"I'm a teacher. I'm paid on the teacher salary scale," says Kim Grimes, a board member of the Arizona Library Association's school library media division. "It never even crossed my mind [that we weren't considered teachers] until six weeks ago when all these librarians were e-mailing us saying, 'Where's the division coming down on how we're going to get paid?'"

Last November, Arizona voters approved Proposition 301, a ballot referendum asking them to raise the state sales tax to provide more money for public schools. A big chunk of the proceeds was designated for teacher pay raises, described as crucial in a state that ranks dead last in the nation in per-pupil funding and only 34th in the size of its teacher salaries. The language of the referendum referred simply to "teachers," giving no definition of the term. Librarians, like many other educators, assumed they were included in the plan. "Librarians supported it and encouraged all their friends to get out and vote for it," says Betty Marcoux, a former school librarian now teaching at the University of Arizona.

But in April, the state Department of Education issued an opinion saying that districts could use Proposition 301 funds only to pay people who provided direct classroom instruction. According to Chris Thomas, director of legal services for the Arizona School Boards Association, the ruling took school districts, and his organization, completely by surprise, because it's long been understood that under Arizona law, a teacher was someone required to hold a state teaching certificate—and that includes librarians, counselors, and speech pathologists. "Not only does the law support that, but I was a lobbyist when this proposition was passed, and I know that's what was intended," says Thomas.

One district, Deer Valley Unified in Phoenix, decided to challenge the Department of Education's ruling, asserting that under Arizona law, the term "teacher" clearly includes librarians and others. Deer Valley last month sent its challenge to the state Attorney General's office, which is expected to rule on the matter any day. The head of the Arizona Library Association also challenged the ruling in a letter to the state superintendent of instruction. And Thomas says the association of school boards and many districts also sent letters supporting the broader definition.

Librarians, for the moment, are mainly crossing their fingers that the Attorney General rules in their favor. Marcoux says the education climate in the state is somewhat in flux because of the recent resignation of the controversial state superintendent, Lisa Graham Keegan. "Because of Superintendent Keegan's resignation, we are very much laying low until we know what the Attorney General's interpretation is." Nonetheless, she adds, "I think it's going to be extraordinarily tough to excise certain categories of teachers when they're required by law to have teaching certifications."