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Robbing Libraries to Pay McGraw-Hill
Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning

Open Letter to the Library Community
from Christine Jax, Ph.D

Dear Friends of Minnesota's Libraries:

On June 4, 2002, I was forced to announce a second round of budget cutting measures and staff layoffs at the Department of Children, Families & Learning. These measures were the direct result of the near $8.5 million budget reduction suffered by the agency at the hands of the 2002 Minnesota Legislature.

As part of the necessary spending reductions, we have had to reorganize the way we administer services to libraries in Minnesota. Although staffing in the agency's Library Development and Services Division (LDS) has had to be reduced from 23 to 14, LDS has not been dissolved or eliminated as some have reported. Even with reduced staff, the agency will continue all federal funding and state support for public libraries, albeit at a much reduced level of customer service.

Our LDS Division hosts a professional library science collection that has served the needs of both the agency and the library community. We are currently reviewing options for maintaining the collection elsewhere, and will rely on advice from the library community to make the best decision in this matter.

Many of you have contacted the agency to ask how we can justify this decision in light of the overwhelming need for library services throughout the state. We fully acknowledge the important role in learning that libraries play in communities throughout Minnesota. However, the massive cuts by the legislature have forced the agency to eliminate 25% of our state-funded positions. There have been lay-offs across the agency and, as a direct result, the agency's services to the citizens of Minnesota will be compromised in many areas. Perhaps you would have chosen different staff positions to eliminate. But the fact remains that the agency had no choice but to cut positions, and whatever positions we would have chosen would have been positions serving Minnesotans held by persons we value.
I thank you for your concern and for seeking this additional information about this difficult decision.

Sincerely,
Christine Jax, Ph.D.
Commissioner


and a related document

June 20, 2002

CFL Celebrates Reading Grants at U of M

(Roseville, Minn.) — The Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning (CFL) and the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development held a celebration Tuesday afternoon, June 18, for over 600 teachers who will get more resources and intensive training from federal Reading Excellence Grants to improve their students’ literacy skills. The two-year, $24 million grant program will focus on students in kindergarten through third grade in schools that serve more low-income families and/or need assistance to meet state achievement goals.

“We want to provide the tools for teachers to prepare every Minnesota third grader to read,” said education commissioner Christine Jax, Ph.D. “These Federal grants will get valuable resources to our teachers who are working with students who need the most help.”

Thirty-one elementary schools in 11 districts will get grants for use over the next two years to implement research-based approaches to building literacy. Local Reading Improvement grants of between $600,000 and $1 million will go to 24 schools to develop school-wide approaches aimed at helping students connect sounds and printed words, decode unfamiliar words, read fluently with comprehension and develop the motivation to become lifelong readers. Tutorial Assistance Grants will help provide one-on-one and small-group instruction in the same areas to supplement regular classroom reading instruction. Seven schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul will receive grants of up to $200,000 for these activities over a two-year period.

CFL and the University of Minnesota worked together on the grant application that met the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria. They will continue to provide leadership and administrative support to the schools and districts receiving the grants during the next two years.


NOTE: In January, 2002, high schoolers were advised by the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning that to prepare for the high stakes test: Get a library card and visit the library regularly. Maybe the Department should update this: Find out where a library is open and librarians present.

Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning
June 2002
http://cfl.state.mn.us/cjlibltr.html

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INDEX OF OUTRAGES

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