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School Librarians Seek 100% Inclusion in 65% SolutionLibrary leaders across the country are strategizing how best to safeguard media-center budgets in the wake of a new funding-formula proposal that calls for all 50 states to require that their school districts spend at least 65% of their budgets on direct-classroom instruction by 2008. The brainchild of the nonprofit group First Class Education, the 65 Percent Solution defines as classroom costs the same functions so designated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Among the services relegated to “outside-the-classroom” overhead are principals, school nurses, counselors, student transportation, teacher training—and school library media specialists.Patrick A. Byrne, national advisory chair of FCE as well as CEO of Overstock.com, explained in a November 3 op-ed article on the online Cybercast News Service that the reallocation of funds would force “education professionals to make do (and make better) with what they have, rather than compiling an expensive and extensive wish list and sending the bill to taxpayers.” The idea has gained momentum in several states since FCE began promoting it last March: In August, Texas Gov. Rick Perry mandated by executive order the phasing-in of a 65% classroom funding formula. Kansas and Louisiana have passed resolutions endorsing the concept, and proponents in Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Oregon have either passed resolutions or are considering legislation or ballot measures for 2006 to require the 65%–35% split. In response, Texas State Librarian Peggy Rudd and Colorado State Librarian Eugene Hainer met November 16 with the Department of Education about getting NCES to redefine the work of school library media specialists as a classroom cost. Rudd told American Libraries that DOE officials were particularly interested to find out that the Reading First program of the 670-page No Child Left Behind Act (Part B, Subpart 1, Section 1208) lists school librarians, as well as principals, as instructional staff. “Accountability is the watchword of the day,” said Rudd, noting that inclusion in the NCES definition would require school librarians to join the ranks of educators required to pass tests proving they are highly qualified teachers, as NCLB mandates. “It’s in school librarians’ best interests to get on the bandwagon, and I think most of them will,” she asserted. However, credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s seems skeptical about the funding-formula’s potential to improve education. S&P’s SchoolMatters.com website published “The Issues and Implications of the ‘65 Percent Solution’” November 22, a report that finds that “some of the highest-performing districts spend less than 65%, and some of the lowest-performing districts spend more than 65%” and concludes that “no minimum spending allocation is a ’silver bullet’ solution for raising student achievement.” Thomas Sheridan, vice president of S&P’s School Evaluation Services division, recommends instead that policymakers “optimize the effectiveness of each dollar spent in their schools [by] leveraging data and analysis to identify and replicate the specific classroom practices” that improve student performance. Posted December 16, 2005; modified December 20, 2005. |
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