Lawmakers push to require librarians in public schools
LANSING, May 11 — Michigan is one of the worst in the nation for library access, ranking 47th for its student-to-school librarian ratio, according to the Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest union of teachers and other school personnel. Experts say it’s no coincidence that the state also ranks fifth worst In the nation for literacy.
But that could change under legislation that would require all Michigan public schools to maintain a library and hire a certified.
The three bills — sponsored by Reps. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth; Darrin Camilleri, D-Brownstown Township; and Kristy Pagan, D-Canton — would also require schools to have a supervisor to monitor students in the librarian’s absence. They mirror a package introduced in 2018 that never made it out of the House Education Reform Committee.
The proposal doesn’t allocate any money to bring schools into compliance, and every co-sponsor is a Democrat. But Koleszar, a first-time legislator, said he’s hopeful about the bills’ prospects now that the state is past the “craziness” of the last few months of the previous legislative session, when the first package was introduced.
Read more: http://lansingcitypulse.com/stories/lawmakers-push-to-require-librarians-in-public-schools,12799
