2017 Concern- Position statement on publicly funded schools needing certified librarians and fully funded collections
Concern: The incoming administration has proposed a Director for the US Department of Education who has a history of supporting school choice. It behooves the Association to be proactive in assuring that schools that receive public funding have a certified school librarian in their library. A quick study of Maryland shows that only one third of the 48 public charter schools have a certified media specialist on staff.
Please note that there is a recent report from NEA entitled "Library/Media Centers in U.S. Public Schools: Growth, Staffing, and Resources", on page 3 of the Executive Summary it defines school library staffing with school librarians/media specialists: the same ratio for charter schools has fallen since 2007, but at a faster rate than
for traditional schools. The librarian/media specialist-per-student ratio in charter
schools is substantially smaller than it is in traditional schools, with one charter
librarian/media specialist for every 4,397 charter students. This is a 33 percent drop
from the 2000 ratio for charter schools, compared to an 18 percent drop for traditional
schools.
Action Requested: Region 2 requests that the AASL Board of Directors take action to develop a position paper to support that all school libraries that receive public funding have a fully funded library and certified school librarian on staff.
Status: This concern is addressed in the current AASL position statements including Definition of an Effective School Library Program and Appropriate Staffing for School Librarians as well as the recently established Libraries in Public Charter Schools Task Force.
