[LM_NET] SHARE: Oklahoma HB 3029-- Are We Making Progress??

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

I feel like I'm reporting from a "war zone" with updates being sent to the
troops about the conditions ahead----

but as of this afternoon, Oklahoma's HB 3029 has once again been tabled for
tomorrow (Thursday).  In the meantime, reports from school librarians have
shown that "the message is being received..." but I am concerned that it is
NOT being heard by everyone. One of the representatives who authored the
bill (and I am sad to say was the former President of Oklahoma State
University), Senator Jim Halligan, brought up the bill again for discussion,
saying the "librarians were beating him over the head!"   --- isn't that how
you get a donkey's attention?

It's NOT too late to contact Oklahoma state representatives--- even if you
are calling for a second time.  Don't forget to ask your students' parents,
your teachers, and the community stakeholders to make phone calls too---and
provide them with contact information and phone numbers.  You can send out
information faster to your parents and teachers through email, but urge them
to make phone calls to ask the Senators to vote NO to HB 3029.

Oklahoma's students deserve much more than what our state representatives
want to provide them--- I plan to blog about this tomorrow --- but
essentially, our representatives are more concerned about money being
diverted from "their pet projects" such as....the state's highway
construction / reconstruction / continual construction.  If funding is
needed to pay for Oklahoma's childrens' education, then the highway
construction projects won't be completed!!   (Yes, one Oklahoma
representative actually stated this!!)

My advice is this:

Let's continue to move forward in funding the education of Oklahoma's
children by providing them with certified school librarians and properly
funded school libraries, so that one of our children will graduate from our
public schools, attend college, surprisingly discovers a talent in science
and engineering, and ultimately develops a construction method that
eliminates the need for Oklahoma's highways to be repaired EVERY TWO
YEARS--- thus saving the state millions of dollars each year!

Our state's future lies in our investments in education today!  Call your
Senators!!

~Shonda

-- 
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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