Another Texas school district has decided to eliminate all library positions — the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD). The district follows Houston ISD and San Antonio ISD, which also eliminated several librarian positions since last August.
The district’s superintendent, Jennifer Blaine, cited a $35 million districtwide budget cut and blamed it on the Texas legislature’s failure to allocate funding to public schools at a time when Governor Greg Abbott champions school vouchers — a debate that raises concerns about its impact on equity in public education.
Where did it all begin?
Since October 2023, the district planned to chop nearly 300 jobs in two phases and voted to close schools and dissolve charter school programs at three other campuses, all of which are majority-Hispanic schools (90%) belonging to economically disadvantaged populations (80%), citing the budget deficit as the reason. The decision impacts around 2,100 students.
“We remain angry and disappointed that throughout the 88th Legislative Session and four subsequent special sessions, individuals elected to represent us could not pass a single piece of legislation to provide much-needed funding for our public schools,” Board Vice President Lisa Alpe had said then. “That’s ZERO new money since 2019, while our costs have escalated due to double-digit inflation.”
In February 2024, district leaders said they would cut 215 positions ahead of the 2024-25 school year in the second phase of its budget cuts, aiming to slash $35 million from its budget. In the first phase, it cut 91 jobs.
The cuts, announced Friday afternoon, will span from the campus to the administrative level, impacting librarians, counseling, and academic support staff, among other positions. The cuts total over $22.5 million, the largest slash since district leaders began addressing its shortfall in October.
Who will run SBISD now?
As replacements for the district’s 35 librarians, media center assistants who are less trained now have the responsibility to run the libraries, reports Houston Landing. These assistants need a minimum of 48 college hours or a high school diploma and an Educational Aide Certification as qualifications, while librarians are required to have college degrees.
Their job description requires them to schedule appointments, meetings, and conferences with parent volunteers, handle the distribution and return of materials, and assist students with book selections, among other things.
According to SBISD’s compensation plan, librarians earned salaries starting from $65,628 to $86,009, based on their experience.
Moreover, libraries will now be treated as campus media centers.
Wait…does this sound familiar?
Last year, HISD under superintendent Mike Miles eliminated all librarian and media specialist positions at the 28 schools initially selected to be a part of his overhaul program, the New Education System (NES). The district also said they would evaluate the 57 additional NES-aligned campuses on a case-by-case basis.
These libraries were also turned into “disciplinary centers,” where students will be led to learn remotely in these designated areas.
“I am overwhelmingly proud that this many HISD school leaders are ready to take bold action to improve outcomes for all students and eradicate the persistent achievement and opportunity gaps in our district,” Miles had said then.
Houston’s second-largest school district Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, is also anticipating a $38 million budget deficit next year. It is yet to be known what steps the district will be taking to address the shortfall.
What did the books do now?
Recently, libraries and librarians are finding themselves at the center of book bans and funding cuts. One such book ban took place at the Keller ISD, which wanted to remove “challenged books” like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, an adaptation of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir. This led the district’s superintendent Dr. Rick Westfall to issue a clarification that placed the onus on the Board of Trustees approving policies such as the EFA and EFB, under which books that are challenged by “community members” as being inappropriate for schools to be removed.
Similarly, SBISD has been involved with a similar book-banning debare in recent years.
The book The Black Friend, On Being a Better White Person, written by Frederick Joseph, was banned by the school board in January 2023. The district paid $30,119 and 226 staff hours in reviewing the book, split among 16 employees. Over 40 books were submitted for reconsideration in that school year.
