Nearly a month after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his proposed 2004–2005 budget that addresses a $14-billion deficit, libraries in the state are scrambling to see how it will impact them in July when program cuts go into effect.
The stress on local governments, according to the California Library Association, is partially caused by a requirement shifting an increasing amount of property-tax revenues from counties and cities to the Education Revenue Augmentation Fund that supports school districts and community colleges. Los Angeles County officials predict that the county’s estimated $459-million loss in state funding could force 10 of its 84 public libraries to close, the Los Angeles Times reported February 3.
School libraries would not be spared under the proposed budget either, since the part of the ERAF earmarked for libraries (categorical funds) would be folded into each school district’s general fund on the theory that districts want more control over where they allocate their dollars. Oceanside Unified School District Superintendent Ken Noonan said in the February 1 Escondido North County Times that it might prove tempting to redirect the new discretionary funds to pay for teacher salary increases instead of library books. “My fear is that when the categorical money is shifted to the general fund, those programs are gone,” he said. “We are worried about our libraries.”
The budget also calls for cuts to the University of California, California State University, and other state-supported campuses. The 7.5% reduction to UC libraries and other non-instructional programs amounts to $45 million, on top of the $36.5-million cut imposed in 2003–2004.
On the brighter side, CLA reports that Schwarzenegger has maintained “up to $128.4 million for the California Cultural and Historical Endowment to encourage libraries and nonprofits to develop and collect items of historical and cultural significance for the state.” It also projects that the California State Library will be left “largely intact,” except possibly for some “across-the-board general government cuts that may affect their department.”
Posted February 6, 2004.