Riverside, CA, ConsidersCutting Last 12 Teacher-Librarians

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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 03/17/2010

Twelve teacher librarians in California’s Riverside County School District (RCSD) are in danger of losing their jobs at the beginning of the next school year.

School board member Charles Beaty.

Last week, RCSD served the certified librarians notices that their positions might be eliminated, in a move to help stem an estimated $9 million deficit that the district faces in the 2010–2011 academic year, says Charles Beaty, a school board member for the district. “And we expect more cuts to our budget are coming,” he says.

Each of the media specialists, the last certificated librarians in Riverside County, is assigned to the 12 middle and high school libraries in the district, along with 12 classified librarians, or library clerks, whose jobs have been put on notice for the upcoming year as well.

The question facing the district is whether it can afford to keep a certificated librarian and a clerk in each school library—or if it can maintain collections and keep doors open with fewer people. Of the district’s $357 million budget for general funds this school year, 92 percent is devoted to salaries, says Beaty. Another concern is how to align staff positions with cuts that RCSD needs to make.

District superintendent Richard Miller.

“I don’t think we have the answer to that,” says Richard Miller, the district’s superintendent. “We’re still going to have the libraries open, but in terms of staffing, we haven’t decided what’s the right mix.”

Riverside County is facing steep budget cuts, as are school districts across California, as the state’s financial straights are being felt sharply throughout the educational sector. This isn’t the first time, however, that district librarians have been warned that their positions might be eliminated.

“Last year, we notified the certificated people, but we didn’t have to make the cuts,” says Beaty, who is a former principal at John W. North High School, one of the 12 schools affected. “Still, there was a lot of uproar.”

RCSD’s elementary schools are already staffed by library clerks, but neither Beaty nor Miller were willing to state if that was the direction the district would take, as they have until May 15 to send out final letters on whether the certificated positions would definitely be cut.

“We respect librarians,” says Beaty. “But we need to protect ourselves. It’s so sad, really.”