ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 77 July 28, 1999 In this issue: Sen. Reed Introduces School Library Media Resources Bill; Action Needed On June 22 Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced S. 1262, the Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training, and Advanced Technology Assistance Act of 1999. The bill, which was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has the following cosponsors: Sens. Thad Cochran (R- MS), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Ted Kennedy (D- MA), Thomas Daschle (D-SD), Harry Reid (D-NV), Patty Murray (D- WA), Max Baucus (D-MT) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). "School library funding is grossly inadequate to the task of improving and supplementing collections," said Sen. Reed in his introductory speech. "Library spending per student today is a small fraction of the cost of a new book." He cited statistical evidence showing that the highest achieving students tend to come from schools with strong libraries and library programs (see the Congressional Record, June 22, 1999, S7457-9 at http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/retrcrpg.html ) Sen. Reed included a June 21 letter of support from then ALA President Ann Symons as an attachment to his speech. Symons thanked the Senators for sponsoring legislation which "would provide assistance to the nation's school libraries and school library media specialists at a time when they are laboring mightily to cope with the challenges of increasing school enrollment, new technology and the lack of funding for school library resources." She pledged ALA's support in working towards passage of the legislation. Congress is currently conducting hearings in both the House and Senate committees on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. The House Committee plans to report out parts of the bill instead of one large bill. The House passed one of those parts, H.R. 1995, the Teacher Empowerment Act, on July 20. H.R. 1995, which would consolidate teacher training, Goals 2000 and the hiring of new teachers into a block grant, has not yet been voted on in the Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has held a series of hearings but has not yet reported out legislation. Action Needed: SENATE: In order for Sen. Reed's S. 1262 to be included in the ESEA Reauthorization, more Senate sponsors are needed. Contact your Senator and ask him or her to cosponsor the legislation. You can send an e-mail by using the ALA Legislative Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/ala/ to communicate with Senators (and Representatives). HOUSE: Lead sponsors for the S. 1262 need to be secured and other sponsors obtained, preferably from membership of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (see the list at http://www.house.gov/eeo/members/mem-fc.htm ). In order to convince Representatives, library advocates will need to collect details of amounts of funding spent on school library materials, whether there is need for more school librarians in the state and what needs exist for technology training and sharing of resources. The U.S. Capitol switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121. OTHER ORGANIZATIONS: School library media specialists can advocate for the S. 1262 with contacts in the book publishing community, school administrators and members of the Parent Teachers Association, as well as classroom teachers and parents. Please share any information collected or contacts made with Mary Costabile at mrc@alawash.org or call the ALA Washington Office at 800-941-8478. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley; Managing Editor: Deirdre Herman; Contributors: Sally Benson, Mary Costabile, Carol Henderson, Peter Kaplan, Carrie Russell, Saundra Shirley, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.