My son started Kindergarten this year at our neighborhood public school. And while California public schools have been underfunded for many, many years, this year in particular there is a lot of talk about sweeping budget cuts as the state’s balance sheet is bleeding red. During our tour of the school last spring we first heard it. In our summer welcome packet: more about the budget cuts. At back to school night: budget cuts again. Sigh. It’s not the kind of thing you want to hear as a parent of Kindergartner. I imagine by third or fourth grade I will have completely tuned it out, but now, it leaves me anxious and uneasy. What are they cutting? Who decides?

And while things like the elementary music program has fallen victim to the dreaded cuts, I am so very proud that our school still has a library. Interesting, it physically resides at the very center of the school. And that is so telling. Because I have come to realize just how incredibly valuable it is.

Just this week my son came home from school bubbling over with excitement to share the book he picked out at the library. He couldn’t wait to share it with me. As we read at bedtime, I had to stop for a moment, so I placed the open book, face down on his bed. “Mom! No!” I was swiftly reprimanded for handling the book this way. I sort of scoffed at first and then I realized, how sweet he was. To treat a book with such reverence and to appreciate what a privilege it was to have it on loan was really touching.

Mrs. Roquel, the librarian, has apparently schooled him in library borrowing etiquette. And she has made quite an impression; my son speaks so highly of her. I have never met her personally but from the way he talks, she sounds like a treasure. (Note to self: I really should make it a point to thank her.) She is doing so much to encourage an excitement around reading and an interest in discovering new things in books.

I can’t help but think how important a well-stocked and staffed school library is for reading achievement. In doing some Internet research, indeed there are many studies that point to a strong correlation.

“There are a number of recent studies in the library literature which have shown that a quality school library program is a powerful predictor of academic and reading achievement. In view of the current interest in the improvement of student achievement, particularly reading scores, it is especially critical that administrators realize that school library media resources and personnel are not only useful, but an indispensable component of the total school program and an integral part of the learning process.”

Source: http://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/misc/research-sum.html

Do you have a library at your school? Or has it fallen victim to vanishing funds?

Filed under: Kindergarten, education