[LM_NET] SHARE: URGENT--- OKlahoma Legislature to VOTE HB 3029 on Monday

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

This email came this afternoon (Sunday) from the Oklahoma Association of
School Library Media Specialists (OASLMS)  and I wanted to share it with
Oklahoma School librarians---and everyone who can help.  *The Oklahoma State
Legislature will vote on HB 3029 tomorrow.*

It's now or never....

****************************************************************************************


*Subject:* Media Specialists Legislative Alert

*Urgent Legislative Alert!*

Call your State Senator before 1:30 p.m. on Monday at *(405) 524-0126* to
protect Oklahoma school libraries and school media specialist certification!

*Ask your Senator to vote “no” on  HB 3029*


   -  HB3029 removes schools from all requirements for maximum class size
   restrictions, including class size mandates related to early childhood and
   kindergarten programs.
   - HB 3029 allows school districts to effectively eliminate their school
   libraries and librarians, without risk of loss of accreditation!
   - HB3029 removes any requirements that the districts purchase new
   textbooks, or maintain a library budget.

In short, HB3029 allows schools to close libraries—or have them unmanned by
the professionals with expertise in technology, reading, and education so
desperately needed in our schools today.  How will we be able to improve –
or even maintain – test scores, which have become so critical to state and
national governments as measures of student success, without the most
critical certified professionals that can assist us in improving our
children’s learning and performance on those tests?

Many proponents use the excuse that this exemption is only for two years.
If positions are cut for two years, the best are likely to leave the schools
and indeed the state, as they find better positions in states more committed
to libraries and public education. Others will leave the profession
altogether, never to return.

Already, college advisors are discouraging students not to pursue advanced
degrees in library science or positions as media specialists, as a result of
this legislation.  This legislation is costing us our “brain trust”.  The
deleterious effects of this legislation go far beyond a loss of media
specialists for two years in schools!

Help your Senator understand the long-term damage that HB 3029 will bring to
public education, our children, and the economy.

*Call your Senator Monday, April 12 before 1:30 p.m.*



 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Shonda Brisco
Assistant Professor / Curriculum Materials Librarian
Mary L. Williams Curriculum Materials Library
001 Willard Hall
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
http://www.library.okstate.edu/cml/index.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://osulibrarian.wordpress.com/
http://www.osu-cml.wikispaces.com
sbrisco@gmail.com

http://okschoollibrarians.wikispaces.com
http://okschoollibrarians.ning.com/

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

"It is more than ironic that school districts are willing to spend
hundreds of thousands of dollars on reading programs and staff
development which have had limited success in boosting test scores,
but are unwilling to invest in school library programs that show direct
correlations to student success."

~ Douglas Achterman,  2008 Study of California School Libraries
http://www.lrs.org/impact.php

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