President’s FY 13 Budget includes little support for literacy

The President’s FY 13 budget proposal released on Monday contains very little support for literacy. Support was reduced for the Fund for Improvement of Education (FIE), which provides books, technology services and critical learning programs to at-risk children. The Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program has again been consolidated with five other literacy programs to compete for funding. See the District Dispatch post for a statement from the American Library Association President Molly Raphael.

Senate Appropriations Committee passes appropriations bill with funds for school libraries & LSTA

On Wednesday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health & Human Services, Education FY 2012 Appropriations bill. The bill includes funding for school libraries and LSTA. See the District Dispatch posting for details.

Again, please thank Senator Mikulski, who voted for the bill, for her support of libraries in this bill. You can either call her office at 202-224-4654 or use Capwiz to send a message.

Subcommittee passes bill with funds for school libraries & LSTA

Good news! The Labor, Health & Human Services and Education Subcommittee voted on its FY 2012 appropriations bill.  The bill passed and includes funding for school libraries and LSTA. See the District Dispatch posting for further details.

9/21/2011 UPDATE: Many thanks to everyone who contacted the Senator!  Mikulski did vote for the bill.  (Votes were along party lines.) Feel free to thank Senator Mikulski for her support via a phone call or using Capwiz!

Action Alert! Contact Mikulski to increase LSTA & ILTSL funding

On Tuesday, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee will vote on funding for the Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program. Apologies for the late request, but there is still time to contact Senator Mikulski, who serves on this subcommittee, and ask for her support. Personalize your message by telling how these funds help you and/or your library. For more information on how LSTA funds are used in Maryland, see this document.

Mikulski did sign a Dear Colleague Letter in support of LSTA and ILSTL funding for FY 2012 in June.  (See the earlier Legislative Panel’s blog post.)  However, this vote will be for specific funding amounts. See the message below from the American Library Association Washington Office for more details, including how to use Twitter to send a message to subcommittee members.

Thanks in advance for any advocacy efforts!

 

Maryland Senators sign on to LSTA & ILTSL letter!

Senators Mikulski and Cardin have both signed onto the Dear Colleague letter in support of funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program.  The American Library Association Washington Office confirmed their signatures in their District Dispatch posting.  (For background information on the request, see the Legislative Panel’s blog posting.)

Thank you to everyone who contacted Maryland’s Senators to ask for their support!  These grassroots efforts have certainly made a difference!  Don’t forget to contact the Senators to thank them for their support.  This can be easily done using Capwiz.

Action Alert! Contact Senators to sign onto LSTA & ILTSL Dear Colleague letter

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6/10/2011 Update:  Both Senators have signed onto the letter.  Please feel free to thank them.  See the Legislative Panel’s blog posting for more details.

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Please contact Senator Mikulski and Senator Cardin asking them to sign onto a Dear Colleague letter in support of FY 2012 funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL).  Signatures are needed by close of business on Wednesday, June 8^th, so please call soon.  This effort is being led by Senators Jack Reed and Olympia Snowe.  Senators should contact Elyse Wasch in Reed’s office or Matthew Hussey in Snowe’s office to sign onto the letter.

When you ask the Senators to sign on, it may help if you describe at least one valuable service that your library provides the community or a success story about a library patron.  Examples include access to computers and data services to aid job searchers, support for small businesses with marketing data and other resources or teaching digital literacy to people of all ages including K-12 students.

For Maryland, LSTA funding amounts to approximately $3 million and is used to fund AskUsNow, the Summer Reading Club and staff training grants, as well as special projects in local libraries across the state.

Here are the phone numbers for the Maryland Senators’ offices:

• Senator Mikulski – 202-224-4654
• Senator Cardin – 202-224-4524

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

LSTA & Local Advocacy Works

Below is a message that the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office asked for me to pass along to my colleagues in Maryland.  It highlights the recent advocacy success of the libraries in Montgomery County and how the same model can be used at the federal level with Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) funding.

The Dear Colleague letters in support of LSTA and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program were recently delivered to the leadership of the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee.  Of the Maryland Representatives, Congressman Van Hollen signed onto the ILTSL letter and Congressman Ruppersberger signed onto both the LSTA and ILTSL letters.  (See the District Dispatch posting for details.)  Thank you for all of your advocacy efforts and I encourage you to thank Congressman Van Hollen and Ruppersberger for their support.

It is not too late to try and gain additional support for LSTA and ILTSL.  You can still contact members of the House to ask for their support and a Dear Colleague letter will soon be available for the Senate.  Phone numbers are listed in the message below and a Capwiz Action Alert, including a pre-written letter, is available.

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From the ALA Washington Office:

As many of you know, the Montgomery County Council recently pushed for a $2.8 million cut to the library budget, but – thanks to a little creative advocacy – $2.3 of the of the proposed cut was restored.

On the day of the final vote, citizens showed up wearing orange T-shirts that said, “Libraries Matter.  No more cuts.” Their show of support for their local libraries persuaded the council to change its mind. Read the full story here.

This local approach can also work on the federal level, as “all politics is local.” Your advocacy is urgently needed now, as Congress delves into the FY2012 Appropriations process.

The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) is the primary source of federal funding for libraries. Currently, neither the House nor the Senate has marked up the appropriations legislation that funds the LSTA, but we know we have a fight ahead of us. The President’s FY2012 budget request called for a 10 percent cut to this program. 

Libraries fill in the gaps when other government services are cut, and now is the time to give Congress same message the citizens of Montgomery County took to their council members: Libraries Matter.  No more cuts.

Please call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and contact Senators Mikulski and Cardin as well as your representatives and ask them to restore LSTA funding.  For background information on LSTA, click here.

School Libraries’ funding at risk for FY 2012

The House Education & Workforce Committee is scheduled to markup HR 1891 on Wednesday.   This bill would repeal a number of Department of Education programs that have been called “ineffective or unnecessary.”  This would include the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program, a source of federal funding exclusively for school libraries, despite the fact that it has been labeled successful in two separate evaluations.

Thank you for any advocacy efforts to get members of the House to sign on to the Dear Colleague letter in support of ILTSL.  Maryland has no members on the House Education & Workforce Committee, so there is no further action to take at this time.  For more information, see the District Dispatch posting.

Action Alert! Contact House to sign Dear Colleague Letters for LSTA & ILTSL

Please contact your representative in the House asking them to sign onto two Dear Colleague Letters—one for Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) and the other for Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL)—to support their funding in FY 2012.  For background information, as well as a pre-written letter, see the Capwiz Action Alert.  (The Action Alert also includes information about including an effective school library program in the reauthorization of Elementary & Secondary Education).

Congressman Ruppersberger has already signed on to these letters, so feel free to contact him to say “thank you.”

Dept of Education eliminates funding for school libraries in FY 2011

The Department of Education had 30 days to finalize their budget allocation.  The report released on May 16^th indicates that funding for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program was zeroed out for the rest of FY 2011.  This eliminates the sole source of federal funding for school libraries and a means to provide students with up-to-date books and technology, as well as certified school librarians.  For more information, please see the District Dispatch posting.