School librarians took one of the biggest hits in a severely reduced 2003–2004 budget approved January 27 by the Evansville, Indiana, school board. Twenty-two certified media specialist positions in all elementary and middle schools in the city and Vandenburgh County were eliminated in order to save $650,000 out of a total of more than $11 million in programs and personnel slated for cuts. The libraries will remain in place, but will be staffed by aides.
The decision was made unanimously by the 18-member board less than 15 minutes after its meeting began with no discussion beforehand, despite some 800 teachers, parents, and staff in the audience eager to ask questions, the Evansville Courier and Press reported January 28. A total of 100 jobs will be cut in the district, including information-systems personnel, nurses, an athletic director, and night custodians.
School officials are trying to turn the situation around by holding a special election April 8 for a seven-year, $70-million property tax increase. However, even if it passes, the additional taxes would not be available until June 2004 at the earliest, and a teachers’ representative on the board could not guarantee that the librarians would be hired back.
At earlier informational meetings, board members called for parents and teachers to contact state legislators, whom they blamed for such unfunded mandates as having to absorb higher payments to teachers’ retirement funds.
Posted February 10, 2003.