Friends,
Yesterday afternoon Sylvia Knight Norton and I had a very informative briefing with policy experts from the ALA Washington Office.
Over the next few years many education bills, like HR 610, will be introduced in the Congress. As educators, we care about education issues. Many of those bills, however, will never get out of committee and will not pass the Congress. It is critical that we do not let those distract us or fragment our efforts to communicate to legislators about school librarians and effective school library programs for every student.
We do need to be very concerned about adequate funding. Even though school libraries have opportunities for federal funding throughout the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the budget talk is all about cutting. So our efforts must be focused on our real danger, insufficient federal funds for education. Our messages to Congress must be about school libraries. If there are cuts, we will need legislators to remember school libraries within limited funding.
As school librarians we need to speak out to our communities and our federal elected officials and tell everyone what happens in an effective school library program and how school librarians contribute to our students’ 21st-century education.
Audrey Church
2016-2017 AASL President