Prosser School District (WA) to Cut Librarians- Convert to Teachers

The Prosser School Board on Tuesday narrowly approved the district's annual budget for the coming school year.
The board voted 3-2 to adopt the nearly $28.4 million general budget....
The district faced a $1.3 million shortfall in that budget, due mostly to state budget cuts made this summer and last winter.It met that shortfall by dipping into its reserves, not replacing retiring staff and -- most controversially -- converting librarians to classroom teachers.


But no cut drew more opposition than the plan to reduce the five designated librarians in the district to one. Nearly one-third of the shortfall -- $410,000 -- will be countered by not filling the position of the departing librarian at Keene-Riverview Elementary, reassigning the librarians from Whitstran Elementary, Prosser Heights Elementary and Prosser High to classroom teaching positions, and turning the Housel Middle School librarian into a district librarian, who will rotate through all schools.
A public hearing Tuesday drew a crowd of about 30 teachers, parents and librarians.All who commented were opposed to the district's plan, or at least urged the board to consider how important librarians are to improving kids' reading skills.