I had to complete a school library survey for the California Department of Education. Although most of the questions had to do with the services offered and state of the collection, it piqued my curiosity about other libraries and made me want to get some hard numbers regarding them.
This Los Angeles School Report revealed some repercussions regarding libraries, in light of our district giving more control over discretionary funds at the local level. Some level of autonomy is something that a lot of schools are seeking, especially in districts as large as LAUSD, where the needs of one school's population can be so vastly different from those of another. Instead of hiring teacher-librarians, or even library aides, those funds are going toward more administrators or facilities crews to better maintain aging campuses. I feel so lucky to have a job and angry that as a society, we're so screwed up.
The move to charter schools has created a competitive environment for public schools. That isn't how it should be. More students mean more dollars and charter schools become more selective in the students they take in. What's happening in other states? This article in The Delaware Daily County Times shares that as of February of this year, there are only eight full-time librarians serving in Philadelphia schools, down from 176 in 1991. Wow.
This Schools and Staffing Survey, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, shows how library media centers are staffed. As of 2011-2012, New York, the state with the largest public school district, had 78% schools with at least one full-time paid, state-certified library media center specialist. California, home of the second largest school district in the United States (LAUSD): 25%. Illinois, with the fourth largest: 54%. What is happening in California?
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