History
and Facts
The Quality Basic Education Act of 1985 established formulas for library
media center funding calculated on the base-size school. During Governor
Zell Miller’s terms in office, the Media Center Allotment, a State budget
line item, rose to $16.28 per FTE.
The FY99 budget,
the Media Center Allotment for public schools was raised by 20% to $19.54.
In his final budget address that year, Governor Miller expressed his
belief that the” library media center is the heart of every school.”
The General Assembly showed their support by approving this portion
of the budget and also passing House Bill 409, which required 100% of
the Media Center Allotment be spent on library media centers.
Governor Barnes
left intact the 20% increase for Media Center Allotments for FY2000.
Then again, in Barnes’ FY2001 budget the $19.54 per FTE for Media Center
Allotments was retained with a most important mandate as part of House
Bill 1187 now known as the A+ Educational Reform Act. Under this law,
100% of the Media Center Allotment was to be spent on library media
centers, and 90% REQUIRED to be spent in the school where earned. That
portion not spent in this manner was to be returned to the State.
Governor Barnes
announced prior to the opening of the Georgia General Assembly in January
2002, that due to the State of the economy, his budget would contain
cuts in education, but not in “direct instruction.” He then proposed
a 50% cut in the Media Center Allotment in the ’03 budget. His proposal
reduced the Media Center Allotment from $19.54 per FTE to $9.77 for
the 2002-2003 school year. After some debate on the Senate and House
floors, the budget passed unchanged with a statement from the Governor
that this was a ‘temporary’ measure (no timeline provided) and the General
Assembly must send a directive to the Georgia Department of Education
to seek federal supplemental funds for school libraries. The media allotment
cut costs the Georgia library media centers $14 million. However, the
newly authorized (January 2002) ESEA contained only $12.5 million in
grant money to be distributed to library media center programs in Title
I schools across the country.
The Georgia Library
Media Association, Inc. (GLMA), the State’s professional school librarian
affiliate to the American Association of School Librarians, a division
of the American Library Association, represented the school library
media centers and the students of Georgia’s public schools during the
2003 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly in an attempt
to restore school library funding to an acceptable level. However, due
to the State and national economic conditions, no more money was allotted
school libraries for the 2003-04 school year, but neither was the Media
Center Allotment further reduced.
The library supporters in the Georgia House of Representatives and on
the House Education Committee assured that part of the former expenditure
controls dealing with library media center funding of HB 1187 was not
completely voted out in 2003. Governor Perdue’s revision of HB 1187,
SB 249, was finally passed with all site expenditure controls removed.
During 2003-04, direct instruction funds were to be spent on direct
instruction. Funds for areas not under direct instruction could be spent
in other areas with the EXCEPTION of media center funds. For 2003-04,
100% of media funds, “including materials,” were to be spent on media
costs only with no site expenditure controls. The expenditure control
would be audited at the system level. Each system determined how they
would spend the media funds on media costs. This left the door open
for growing systems to spend the funding on opening new school library
media centers, as was a committee meeting discussion at one point during
the session. It was hoped by GLMA that the funds would be spread on
an FTE basis to all schools in each school system, but that was left
up to the local system.
GLMA was also heard
when it was shown that even under HB 1187 many schools were not
getting the funding for library/instructional materials but that
these funds were being used for salaries. The wording in SB 249
was as follows:
“For 2003-04, each local school system shall spend 100 percent of the
funds designated for media center costs for such costs at the system
level, and 100 percent of the funds designated for media materials
for media materials at the system level.”
This one-year stipulation in the law was continued unchanged during
the 2004 Georgia General Assembly. It governed the disbursement of
the State Media Center Allotments for the 2004-05 school year.
News from
the 2005 Legislative Session
In the first week of the 2005 legislative session, a bill (SB 35)
was proposed by those supporters of local control and “flexibility” of state
funds to eliminate expenditure controls completely placing the Media
Center Allotments in the total amount given to the local school system
to be spent at their discretion. This will in many school systems virtually
kill the library media programs. We have seen in one metro Atlanta school
system all the State Media Allotment placed into the building/materials
for new school libraries with nothing going to support the library programs
in the county’s current schools. In another metro system a middle
school of 2600 students only received a $500 budget to support their
library program. With the elimination of the expenditure control
for the money earmarked for school libraries, this money CAN BE and
WILL BE SPENT on ANYTHING that the school systems deem more important.
It is now up to the Georgia library professionals to let their voices
be heard by contacting their local Legislators and asking for their
support to keep our libraries current and vital contributors to increased
student achievement and the process of life-long learning.
Pat Pickard
GLMA Legislative Report
Jan. 2005
2006
Legislative Session
In the 2006 legislative session, Governor Sonny Perdue pushed
the passage of the 65% solution initiative, a Republican national
trend. This legislation stated that a school district had to
spend 65% of their budget in what they classified as direct classroom
expenditures. The definition of classroom expenditures for this
legislation came from model legislation written in Washington
DC. The original author of the bill did not include media money
in the 65% direct instructional category that school systems
must spend in order to avoid a penalty. Staying in line with
the dictates of the original legislation, the Governor¹s office
was adamant that the funding categories stay as written in Washington,
D.C. Under the QBE budget formula in Georgia that was already
in place, media materials had been placed in a third budget category
when Joe Frank Harris was governor and this was not changed in
the 2006 legislative session. As a continuation of the QBE budget
formula, media materials remained in a separate budget category
that was separate from both direct and indirect instruction categories.
State
revenue was up during the 2006 legislative session and as a result
GLMA focused on restoring the media funding that had been cut from $19.54
to $9.77 per FTE count in the 2003 legislative session due to a drop in
state revenue. Through an email campaign, GLMA was successful in getting
the House to increase our FTE funds from $9.77 to $14.65, a 7.6
million-dollar increase. The Senate cut this amount down and the final
increase passed on March 30, 2006 was $5,106,071, an increase to $13.03
per FTE. This effort was led by the GLMA lobbyists and board members that
advocated for media specialists at the state capitol. Unlike the 2005
legislative session, GLMA did not have to fight to maintain expenditure
controls over media funds during this legislative session.
Betsy
Razza
GLMA Legislative Report
November 2006
2007 Legislative Session – Funding Update
FTE Increase for K - 5
Funding for 29 elementary school Foreign Language programs dominated discussions during House and Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee meetings and actually impacted the funding of school libraries statewide.
In his proposed FY 08 Budget, Governor Perdue cut Foreign Language program funds totaling $1,590,857, moving the entire, one-time allotment to elementary school media center budgets (K – 5) for the purchase of foreign language materials.
Parents of children in the 29 elementary schools with Foreign Language programs lobbied their legislators to keep state funding for this program, and as a result, the House and Senate Conference Committee voted to keep the funding for the foreign language program and increase the elementary school media center FTE from $13.03 to $15.31.
Having final say regarding line items in the budget, Governor Perdue redirected the $1,590,857 from the Foreign Language program to the elementary media centers to support foreign language instruction, and stated in his veto message:
"The General Assembly provided $1,590,857 in state general funds for the Foreign Language program. In the past, funding in this program has been limited to only 29 schools. The Department is authorized to utilize this funding to provide approximately $1200 to each elementary school for foreign language media materials."
According to the veto message, the DOE has been instructed to redirect the $1,590,857 from the Foreign Language program to elementary school media centers. That means there are now two line items in the Governors FY 08 budget. One increases the elementary school media center FTE from $13.03 to $15.31, the other redirects $1,590,857 from the Foreign Language program to elementary school media centers (a one time allotment of approximately $1,200 per school). It is expected that procedures for distribution and use of these funds will be a local decision and may vary across school systems.
$100 Gift Cards for LMS
The Governor proposed an increase in funding for teacher gift cards from $10,000,000 to $11,213,500 to account for teacher growth and provide one card per school media center. This was supported by the House and Senate.
Each media center was allotted one $100 gift card to purchase supplies, books, equipment and other items to support their library program. The cards must be used during the week beginning July 28, 2007 and ending Sunday, August 5, 2007. This time period includes the back to school tax-free weekend which begins at 12:00 a.m. August 2, 2007 and ends on August 5, 2007 at 11:59 p.m.
Betsy Razza
GLMA Legislative Report
July 2007
2008 Legislative Session
Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) - HB 1209:
Governor Perdue’s Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) Program was passed during the 2008 legislative session. This legislation allows school systems to enter into a contract with the State Board of Education, requesting increased flexibility from certain state laws, rules, and regulations in exchange for increased accountability and defined consequences. Systems entering into a contract can request flexibility in class size requirements, expenditure controls and categorical allotment requirements, certification requirements, salary schedule requirements, and any other requirements or provisions identified by the local school system and approved by the State Board.
The key to this legislation is that the school system must first enter into a contract with the State Board before flexibility in these areas is granted. In exchange, school systems must show gains in test scores. According to the legislation, "No more than five local school systems in the first calendar year may enter into a contract..." with all other systems notifying the DOE of their intention to request increased flexibility no later than June 30, 2013. The State Board of Education can not authorize any waivers or variances for 1) class size requirements; 2) expenditure controls and categorical allotment requirements; 3) certification requirements; or 4) salary schedule requirements.
Return to Work/Retirement Bill (SB 327)
A return to work/retirement bill, SB 327 was passed which allows a retired teacher, principal, superintendent, media specialist or counselor to return to full-time employment and continue to collect his or her full retirement benefit. The original language of this bill excluded counselors and media specialists. GLMA represented the school library media specialists during the 2008 legislative session in an effort to include media specialists in this retirement bill. Through advocacy efforts, GLMA was able to speak to legislators and the bill was passed with the inclusion of library media specialists.
This legislation allows educators who retire at age 60 with at least 10 years of service to return to work full time and still draw their retirement benefits. Before returning to work an educator must have remained retired for a full year (12 months) in order to qualify. An educator may work part-time (49% of full-time hours for that position) in a school during that full year off and still qualify. Schools may negotiate salaries with educators seeking to return and do not have to pay the salary that the educator was earning before retirement.
Betsy Razza
GLMA Legislative Report
August 2008
2009 Legislative Session
SB 178 - Vetoed
Media center expenditure controls were the major issue that school libraries faced in the 2009 legislative session. The governor sought to temporally waive expenditure controls over library media centers in Senate Bill 178. SB 178 was omnibus legislation that contained several pieces of last minute education legislation including one amendment that would have waived expenditure controls on direct instruction, media centers and staff/professional development. It was voted on as last-minute legislation before the legislature adjourned for the year. The bill passed, but was vetoed by the governor as he opposed other portions of the bill.
Other legislation affecting media centers and media specialists:
Budget Matters
