Legislation, policy, & advocacy

The Rally for Texas Libraries was inspirational and loud!    You can see some short clips of the rally in the news coverage assembled below.  We will post more videos and photos after the conference.

Librarians get loud!

The fiscal challenges facing the state and local school districts have prompted drastic budget realignments at the local level. While there is much emphasis (and rightly so) on maintaining funding for “the classroom,” a serious and harmful consequence has resulted: the failure to properly recognize the fundamental teaching role of school librarians.

Funding for statewide library programs is in jeopardy, and we are at a critical point in budget deliberations. The Texas House of Representatives will consider the Appropriations Committee’s recommended budget for 2012 – 2013. While this new proposed budget restores $2.5 million ($1.25 m/ year) for TexShare, state funds were not restored to Loan Star Libraries and the K-12 Databases.

Where We Stand

We are now at the mid-point of the state’s legislative session, which must deal with the worst budget situation in memory.  With practically every sector of government on the verge of steep cuts, lawmakers and the public are faced with untenable choices.  If you’ve been following the status of statewide library funding proposals, you know that the initial state budget would eliminate all state funding for virtually every statewide library program.