School Libraries to Benefit from Race to the Top Awards

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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 04/19/2010

School libraries are expected to reap some reward from both Tennessee and Delaware’s wins in the recently announced federal Race to the Top awards.

With Delaware’s expected share to be approximately $100 million, the state will distribute 50 percent to its 19 school districts and 18 charter schools, with libraries—while not spelled out specifically in Delaware’s application—likely to play a significant role in the way schools spend their funds.

Dan Cruce, deputy secretary and chief of staff for the Delaware Department of Education.

“We look at our school libraries as the nucleus of our school buildings,” says Dan Cruce, deputy secretary and chief of staff for the Delaware Department of Education. “If we want to talk about school reform, we want to start there.”

While Cruce notes that schools are not mandated to spend a certain amount on school libraries, he says the department will be looking specifically at how districts incorporate school libraries as they submit preliminary proposals to the state over the next 90 days.

Schools won’t likely be able to spend these funds until the start of the 2010/2011 school year, but teams will be meeting on the local and state level soon to craft outlines for the four-year grant—and school libraries and librarians will be included, perhaps by updating materials in media centers, or improving the physical space for students, parents and the community, Cruce says. “That’s certainly how I see it.”

How school libraries will benefit in Tennessee is less clear. However, with the state’s 136 school districts getting 50 percent of the $500 million award, they have some latitude on how they spend those funds, says Amanda Anderson, deputy director of communications for the Tennessee Department of Education.

While districts in Tennessee cannot use the grant to fill budget gaps—and therefore perhaps hold off on layoffs of school librarians—they can use the grant in one of three areas, including professional development, STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and use of data to improve student achievement. It will be critical to come up with plans that use the award within the time frame of the grant—and don’t require additional funding.

Districts in Tennessee have until the end of May to submit their proposals to the state, and won’t be notified about whether their plans were accepted until the middle of June.

“We don’t want anything unfunded after four years,” says Anderson. “But districts can choose to infuse these funds into school libraries. They have some leeway.”