CA's Santa Rosa School Library Positions Spared-For Now

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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 02/17/2010

School librarians in Santa Rosa, CA, may have avoided the chopping block for the upcoming school year, thanks to a last-minute agreement between the Santa Rosa School Board and the teachers’ union.

“We have a deal to keep six school librarians across 24 school districts,” says Dan Evans, president of the Santa Rosa Teachers Association, the teachers’ union. “The sacrifices to keep the six are being made by the union.”

Bill Carle, president of the school board.

Forced to cut $5.6 million from its budget for the 2010–2011 school year, Santa Rosa City Schools had planned to eliminate the remaining 7.6 school library positions in its district, saving $540,000 per year, according to Bill Carle, president of the school board.

While the board did vote to approve the cuts at its February 10 meeting, Evans says it rescinded that vote until the school board’s next meeting on February 24. The board is then expected to approve the new agreement, saving six of the school librarian positions, and not filling 1.7 jobs that are currently open for hire.

While Carle agrees that cutting school librarians is not in the best interest of the district’s students, he says that Santa Rosa is being forced to make unthinkable decisions as California’s budget crisis has decimated education funding across the state.

“We’ve looked at this issue [of cutting school librarians] in the past and tabled it,” he says. “But the state of our budget in California is just abysmal, and the impact beyond comprehension.”

Carle says that the school board has considered proposing a parcel tax to raise funds for the district, as other

Elsie Allen High School, a part of Santa Rosa City Schools.

cities in the state are attempting, but he believes its residents would never approve a tax given the economy. Plus, adds Carle, the board lacks the funds to run a poll and gather public opinion on the issue.

Santa Rosa is just one of many school districts across the country that is cutting school librarians to balance fragile budgets. Other school districts that have recently removed school librarians include Mt. Diablo in Northern California.

For now, however, it appears that Santa Rosa’s school librarians are safe. “But this is just for the 2010–2011 school year,” says Evans. “There is no guarantee beyond that.”