Libraries

The librarian vote is the bandage people can see.

Certified librarians were in the cut list, then pulled off it. That is good for those campuses. It is also the definition of a patch: a $1 million line, paid from reserves, while the rest of the reduction package and the state formula stayed in place.

113 Librarians employed when the spring debate opened. District cost cited at about $7.5 million. Statesman, April 10, 2026
23 campuses Schools under 400 students slated to share a librarian (11.5 FTE). Mostly elementaries, plus a few secondaries and an early-childhood center. Statesman, June 3
$977,500 Board-night cost to keep those positions full time. Earlier stories used ~$897,000. April estimates of “about $2 million” referred to a broader librarian-cut option that was not the final plan. Chronicle / Statesman
June 18 Amendment: every campus keeps a full-time librarian, temporarily on fund balance, replacement cuts due in August. Board vote

The district had said librarians would be spared, then reversed, then reversed again under testimony. That sequence is in the papers. It is also evidence of how thin the remaining general fund is: a line smaller than one percent of the deficit required a late amendment and a raid on reserves.

Internal campus lists reported by the Statesman for the half-time plan included Allison, Barton Hills, Boone, Bryker Woods, Campbell, Cook, Cunningham, Harris, Joslin, Langford, Lee, Mathews, McBee, Ortega, Palm, Pillow, Reilly, St. Elmo, Williams, Zavala, plus Sadler Means, Gus Garcia YMLA, and Uphaus. Several of those names are the same small East and central schools that already live on the closure-risk list. The amendment protected a person in the library. It did not change enrollment, recapture, or the allotment.

If August replacement cuts come from other campus lines, the bandage simply moves. Follow that meeting. The wound is still the formula and the map.

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