ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 35 April 19, 2000 In this issue: ESEA REAUTHORIZATION-SENATE SIDE: ACTION NEEDED Strategy discussions are continuing as Senators and staff make plans for amendments and/or alternatives to S. 2, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization reported out by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. It is expected that floor action on the legislation will take place soon after Senators return from spring recess. ACTION NEEDED: Call Democratic Senate offices before Monday April 24 to remind education staff of the importance of dedicated funding for school library resources. School library supporters should remember the following points when making calls asking for support for Sen. Jack Reed's amendment (S. 1262) when he offers it during debate on S. 2. (Capitol switchboard number is 202-224- 3121) 1. Historically, there has long been federal support for purchase of school library materials. In 1965, it was a dedicated program specifically for school library resources, which provided many of the books still on school library shelves. In the 1970's, it was included in a block grant, as one of the choices for spending; however, once the block grant was created, funding was also cut. Currently ESEA Title VI includes school library resources as one of the 9 choices for funding. However, both House and Senate bills expand the number of choices for Title VI to fifteen, among them school safety. Chances of funding being chosen for school library resources would be less in either alternative bill. 2. Several studies by Keith Curry Lance have shown that the highest achieving students come from schools with good school libraries. 3. Anecdotal news articles collected over the past eight months demonstrate that in most states the school library collections are old, out-of-date, and inaccurate. This situation can be changed by including Sen. Reed's school library resources amendment in the ESEA reauthorization. ****** 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. 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. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.