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School Library Funding & the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance

The Washington Legislature recently passed their supplemental year budget, and thanks to your grassroots efforts, school
libraries received $ 4 million in emergency bridge funding. This is the first time a line item for school library programs has
appeared in a Washington State budget, and as such is a tremendous accomplishment. Congratulations to everyone who
worked so hard . . . you were described by one legislative aide as a 'citizen's army'!

The $ 4 million allocation is a great first step in addressing the school library funding crisis, but a long-term solution to the
problem will have to come from the work of the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance. This bipartisan committee meets monthly and has been charged with redefining basic education and revising the state education funding formulas (the
definition hasn't been substantially revised since 1977 and reform for the funding formulas began in 1993). School library programs have never been considered part of basic education and have never had a line item in the state’s education budget.
As a result, school districts faced with budget deficits have been cutting school library programs – the result has been deeply eroded and highly inequitable library programs around the state. It is crucial that the Joint Task Force members include
school library programs in the revised definition of basic education and ensure that they are funded within the new funding formulas.

We believe Washington State has a chance to craft visionary
education policy, but we will all have to help make it happen.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP NOW

1. Call or email the Joint Task Force on Basic Education Finance. Ask that they include school libraries
in proposals and final recommendations regarding new funding formulas and definitions. Strong school library programs provide an essential foundation for both information and print literacy, and must be part of every child's education.

Call: 360-586-3952 (speak to Annie Pennucci)
Email: bef@wsipp.wa.gov
Re: Include School Libraries in JTF work

2. Help us reach 10,000 petition signatures ! Please remember to ask folks to submit a comment. We will be hand-delivering signatures and constituent comments to Joint Task Force members at their monthly meetings (March 23 is the next one). The ‘Washington Voices’ that have spoken to this issue through petition comments were critical to the legislative effort this past session. We think they’ll be instrumental in working with the Joint Task Force as well.

Please, if you can, talk to your friends and colleagues; tell them about this grassroots effort and direct them
to this website for more information and a link to the online petition.

Here’s the direct petition link: http://gopetition.com/online/15285.html

3. Consider 'sponsoring' a Mom: We are desperate for donations to continue lobbying full-time for this effort. We are focused on succeeding not only for Washington but for the larger national epidemic; we are hopeful substantive results can come from our work both through private and public engagement on this issue. The single most important thing we learned during the legislative session was that 'showing up' matters. What else did we learn? Being present and engaged full-time is absolutely crucial to success. Building relationships matter. Things turn on a dime, sometimes hourly. Help us get through the next 9 months. We have contributed $1,000's of our own money to this effort and know it is not sustainable. Please help us see this through by sponsoring the 3 Moms.

One specific expense that we need help with is getting back and forth to Olympia and beyond. Another is figuring out if there may be grant or other funding opportunities We would be grateful and honored to answer any inquiries you may have about this issue by emailing info@fundourfuturewashington.org

You can make direct donations at the front page of the website through paypal or email us for a mailing address. Thank you for listening.

IF YOU CAN DO MORE:

Please download our latest bookmark -- distribute in your community.

Thank you.

Want to know what else you can do? See below:

If you are a Washington Resident, please consider taking action:

Sign the petition & include a comment about why this matters and who you are [parent, business leader, etc.] Help us reach the 10,000 threshold.

Take 2 minutes to call the capitol hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Your comments go to your 2 Representatives, your Senator and the Governor. Please ask your legislators and the Governor to weigh in with their colleagues on the Joint Task Force to ensure school libraries/information technology/librarians are included in recommendations so they can be assured stable funding. Say that you believe in full-time library programs for all children in WA and the state ensuring this service for every student.

Email both of your Representatives and personally ask them to support school library funding in the next session and with the Joint Task Force reviewing basic education. Let them know it is a top priority for you, and tell them why. Find your Representatives here

Contact the Governor Gregoire personally and let her know you would like her to weigh in through her committee member on the Joint Task Force on this issue as well as request emergency bridge funding in the next session for school libraries. re: school library supporter- can you help? Reach the Governor here

Gather a team of parents, community members, or business professionals & make an appointment to meet with your legislator on this issue, face to face. Legislators are back in home districts. Ask if they were supportive of school library efforts and if they are willing to sponsor something in the next session. Note: all 49 Senators supported school libraries. Find numbers here. Please send us a report (include who you are meeting with, when, and after, what happened at the meeting). Legislative Visit Tips

Pass the word (see tools below).

If you know of a business leader or a higher education professional that might weigh in, please write to us

Notify your local paper about the school library funding crisis and the work of the Joint Task Force. Call the newsroom and ask them to write about both. The LA Times has recently published a story on our efforts, and papers around the country have syndicated the story; this is a national problem and Washington is helping to put it on the map. Your legislators get these news 'clips'!

If you are from out of state:

If you’re not from Washington but care about this issue, please consider a donation. Also, please email us where you’re from and what’s happening in your community. We’re trying to help folks in other states launch their own ‘fund our future’ efforts.

Fund Our Future Oregon Pass the Word.

Help get the word out, and urge others to take action:

Email to send out pdf doc

Sample Letter to the Editor pdf doc

Sample concerned citizen letter pdf doc

Sample letter to legislator from a teacher librarian pdf doc

Sample letter to legislator from a parent pdf doc

Flyer to pass out pdf

Library Advocacy Resources:

Listen to University of Washington Information School Dean Emeritus Michael Eisenberg speak about the need to fund Teacher Librarians in Washington State. Recorded on December 12, 2007 in the campus office of Michael Eisenberg. Audio produced and edited by Michael R. Wood. Music by Ben Hunter. Send it to everyone you know along with a link to fundourfuturewashington.org and ask them to sign the petition and call the legislative hotline! Listen and send the short audio clip: click here to listen (MP3 file) or right click and "Save Target As" to your computer. http://www.infospeak.org/

School Libraries Work (2008) pdf

'Why Care About School Libraries?' pdf

AASL Issues and Advocacy Page here
A wealth of information and resources on major issues within the school library media field.

AASL Advocacy Toolkit here
A collection of ready-to-use tools to conduct an advocacy campaign--large or small--for school library media programs.

AASL School Library Advocacy Campaign here

ALA List of Advocacy Websites here

ALA School Library Funding Advocacy here

ALA Advocacy Resource Center here

ALA Campaign for America’s Libraries here

Library Advocates Handbook (ALA publication) 5th link on the page here pdf