More DCPS schools could lose librarians next school year. With $14M in added funding, will they be brought back?

A number of public schools in DC could be opening their doors next fall without a librarian. 

When more than one-third of DC Public Schools braced for budget cuts in February due largely to projected declines in student enrollment, 27 schools decided to eliminate their full- or part-time librarian positions, reallocating that funding to resources ranging from math teachers and reading specialists to office supplies, according to an analysis of DCPS budget petitions.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who plans to submit her budget proposal to the DC Council late next week, did announce months later in April that she would direct $14 million of DCPS’ COVID-19 recovery federal funding to hold school budgets harmless. Nonetheless, school librarian positions aren’t guaranteed to be reinstated. 

That sets off alarm bells for librarians like Karen Janka, who say their role in nurturing students’ love of reading and cultivating their digital and media literacy skills is more important than ever.

“I’m sure for budget makers these decisions are hard, but the long-term effects of not having a school library are detrimental,” said Janka, who works at Seaton Elementary in Shaw. “A library, despite what people think, doesn’t run itself. … What is the cost to students, especially to students in the margins?”

Of the schools slated to give up their librarian, 12 are in wards 7 and 8, which are under-resourced and predominantly Black. Less than half of the 39 DCPS schools in those wards had a full-time librarian this school year, according to the Washington Teachers’ Union. Districtwide, the union — whose membership includes these workers — confirmed that at least 34 schools either didn’t have a librarian or had only a part-time position funded.

“I can’t say this enough — it’s the definition of inequity,” Janka said.

Schools must work with initial budget allocations determined in the winter and based on projected enrollment. And while DCPS is receiving nearly $300 million in federal stimulus funding to support COVID-19 recovery efforts like academic acceleration and expanded technology assistance, DCPS officials directed schools not to use that funding to maintain or hire permanent, full-time staff. 

Like other school districts nationwide, DCPS is wary of relying on one-time federal allocations to fund permanent positions, fearing a “fiscal cliff” when those funds run out.

When purse strings are tighter, librarians can be “easy targets” for cuts because they aren’t required staff, and there is a general “misunderstanding” about their roles, said librarian K.C. Boyd, who works at Jefferson Middle School Academy in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. Her and Janka’s positions are both secure for 2021-22.

“It gets perceived that the only thing they do is check out books or sit behind a desk,” Boyd added. 

In reality, she said, librarians jump-start kids’ reading engagement, in part by analyzing reviews and attending conferences to keep on top of what’s popular so they can bring those books to their schools. 

They also identify materials that could supplement and enhance the curriculum, teach research skills with online tools like Encyclopaedia Britannica, and instill critical thinking skills so when students are inundated with information, they can be “more informed consumers,” and — one day — ”more informed voters,” Boyd said.

When schools went remote last spring, Boyd noted, it was often the librarians who conducted student, teacher and parent trainings on the tools required for remote learning.

These are all services that will continue to be vital going into next school year. An EmpowerK12 report from December found that many at-risk DC students are months behind in reading, underlining the importance of getting books into kids’ hands. And with online tools now a mainstay of post-pandemic teaching, students will need digital literacy skills to excel.

School budget outlooks notably shifted late last month, when Bowser allocated $14 million from DCPS’ latest round of federal COVID-19 relief funding to assure “all schools will have a FY22 budget that at least matches FY21 funding levels.” The DC Council unanimously passed emergency legislation on May 4 that cements that decision in law.

“A stable investment is needed now,” at-large Council member Christina Henderson, the bill’s author, told her colleagues. While this “will not reverse every proposed staffing cut, it will certainly help mitigate losses.”

It remains unclear which schools will choose to reinstate their librarian positions, and which won’t. The mayor’s announcement said school leaders would be consulting “with Local School Advisory Teams (LSATs) to confirm how best to use these flexible funds.” 

Dana Grosser-Clarkson, whose two children attend Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School near the H Street NE corridor, spent the last few weeks hoping her school would reverse its decision to cut its librarian, Rebecca Burton, after receiving an extra $300,000 from the federal COVID-19 stimulus funds. The school’s principal just announced Tuesday that Burton would stay full-time.

Grosser-Clarkson described Burton as pivotal in keeping the love of reading alive during the pandemic for her two preschoolers. When schools went virtual last spring, Burton recorded herself singing a good morning song, reading books, and talking with puppet Edith the Eagle.

“While these things might not sound like much, these routines were crucial for our family,” she told The DC Line earlier this month. “Mrs. Burton continues these routines in our synchronous virtual settings this school year, and both of my children love library time.”

While other schools may end up making similar choices in the coming weeks, the uncertainty can still be damaging for a school community, Chairman Phil Mendelson said at the council’s May 4 meeting.

“The librarian who’s told that he or she might be losing their job is probably looking for a different school or even a different school system,” he said. “So it’s really destabilizing. It’s destabilizing on the parents. It’s destabilizing on the faculty.

“For a school to be successful, among other things, it has to be a stable community,” he added. 

Bowser will submit her fiscal year 2022 budget to the council on May 27, with the public set to speak on funding for DCPS on June 3 and testimony from education officials the following week. In the meantime, Boyd said she’ll continue “informing our school communities what’s taking place, where the threats are, and how important we are to the livelihood of your children in your schools.”

Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George, who first published the schools’ petition data on Twitter, wrote in a statement to The DC Line that she plans to attend both education budget hearings on June 3 and June 8 to “lift up the questions and concerns I receive … and dig deeper on how these budget decisions will impact our schools.”

The public “can expect strong oversight from the council,” she added.