The Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act

The Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act (S. 1328), was reintroduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) on July 6, 2011 and was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP).  The bipartisan bill was co-sponsored by Senators Patti Murray (D-WA), Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and now also includes John Kerry (D-MA) as a cosponsor.

This SKILLs Act includes key provisions to support school libraries.  These measures in the legislation highlight many of the provisions that the library community believes are needed in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Some of these measures include:

  • Ensuring that funds will serve school libraries in elementary, middle, and high schools;
  • Improving literacy and college and career readiness through effective school library programs;
  • Encouraging coordination and shared planning time among school librarians and classroom teachers;
  • Expanding professional development to include digital literacy instruction that is appropriate for all grade levels, an assessment of student literacy needs, the coordination of reading and writing instruction across content areas, and training in literacy strategies in all content areas;
  • Requiring books and materials to be appropriate for students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners;
  • Providing grants on a competitive basis for a period of three years;
  • Targeting funding to school districts with 20 percent or greater levels of students in poverty;
  • Ensuring an equitable distribution of funds among the different geographic regions of the country and among urban and rural areas; and
  • Requiring greater coordination among other literacy, technology, and professional development funds and activities.

The ALA, along with other education groups, has sent a letter to the Senate asking them to support the SKILLs Act.

What can you do to save school libraries and help students succeed in school?

  1. Call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the SKILLS Act (S. 1328). Visit the SKILLS page at ala.org/takeaction for talking points and your two senators' contact information. When you contact your senators, make it clear that, if they support school libraries, the only way to show it is to co-sponsor the SKILLS Act.
  2. Tell your Senators that when ESEA is debated on the senate floor to support the Whitehouse/Murray school library amendment.
  3. Tell them what an important role school libraries play in your life and in your community.
  4. This may be our last chance to get school libraries into ESEA so it is very important that your senators hear from their voting constituents on school libraries.

What is the current state of school libraries?

  1. School libraries are some of the most underfunded classrooms in the United States because of the struggling local, state, and federal budgets combined with the fact that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) ignores a direct correlation between school libraries and increased student achievement.
  2. NCES data shows that nearly 9,000 public schools do not have a school library.
  3. NCES data further shows that of those schools with a school library, over 22,000 public schools do not have a full or part-time state-certified school librarian.
  4. Over 75 percent of school libraries in California do not have a state-certified school librarian.
  5. Nearly 50 percent of school libraries in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah do not have a state-certified school librarian.