[CASL-L] Important Budget Questions - Assistance Greatly Needed

[CASL President]

Glad to help! Please email me off list for any other information.
B

On Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 4:57 PM Michele Eligio <
meligio at northbranfordschools.org> wrote:

> Thank you very much, Barb, for reaching out to me. I honestly do not know
> where our finance person obtained the state definition. However, it
> obviously looks to be an old interpretation of the function of a school
> library. I appreciate the reminder of the AASL position statement. I have
> been so caught off guard by the changes coming out of our central office
> and have had to double back to write a justification on all of my purchase
> requests as they keep getting denied for one reason or another. Therefore,
> quite frankly, I didn't even have an opportunity to pull up the position
> statement. I truly appreciate your feedback.
>
> On Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at 3:35 PM <president at ctcasl.org> wrote:
>
>> Question: What state defines a SCHOOL Library as such and what year is
>> that from???
>>
>>
>>
>> The AASL position on an EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LIBRARY
>>
>> “As a fundamental component of college, career, and community readiness,
>> the effective school library: 1. is adequately staffed, including a
>> state-certified school librarian who • is an instructional leader and
>> teacher, • *supports the development of digital learning, participatory
>> learning, inquiry learning, technology literacies, and information
>> literacy,* and • supports, supplements, and elevates the literacy
>> experience through guidance and motivational reading initiatives; 2. *has
>> up-to-date digital and print materials and technology, including curation
>> of openly licensed educational resources*; and 3. provides regular
>> professional development and collaboration between classroom teachers and
>> school librarians”
>>
>>
>>
>> These would have budgetary implications…
>>
>> Barb
>>
>> *From:* CASL-L <casl-l-bounces+president=ctcasl.org at mylist.net> *On
>> Behalf Of *Michele Eligio
>> *Sent:* Friday, February 28, 2020 2:19 PM
>> *To:* casl list serv <CASL-L at mylist.net>
>> *Subject:* [CASL-L] Important Budget Questions - Assistance Greatly
>> Needed
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>>
>>
>> To anyone who is willing to read this lengthy email, I would truly
>> appreciate your help.
>>
>>
>>
>> We have a new director of finance and personnel in our business office
>> this year. As such, there as been a complete upheaval to our budget and PO
>> process.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am finding that a lot of my requests for POs are being denied as the
>> director does not feel that the requests fall under the operation of a
>> library or I am having a problem as items that used to be purchased under
>> an *Other Supply* budget number are now being categorized by this person
>> under instructional materials which the library did not budget for (meaning
>> we never had to use this number so we didn't allocate money in this
>> category).
>>
>>
>>
>> To complicate matters, the amount of money that we did allocate for our
>> budget categories/numbers a year ago (prior to this person being hired)
>> cannot be transferred to another category. Finally, we are now being told
>> that we need greater specificity on our open POs and that open POs should
>> be used very infrequently as we should know a year in advance what our
>> needs are. This last change has caused a problem for me in that in my past
>> practice I would always designate some of the money in certain categories
>> of my budget to be used as needs arose throughout the year in order to
>> fulfill teaching/learning support requests at the point of need - basically
>> what I consider to be "best practice".
>>
>>
>>
>> I was given the following state definition of what defines a library
>> program for budget purposes: *The state defines the library program to
>> be those activities and purchases related to directing, managing
>> educational media services and acquiring, cataloging, and circulation of
>> books and other educational materials.*
>>
>>
>>
>> My questions are regarding how other districts are budgeting for the
>> library. I don't need dollar amounts. What would help me is to gain a
>> better understanding of what budgetary categories school libraries are
>> using, particularly high school libraries.
>>
>>
>>
>> My categories have always been as follows: Inservice, Periodicals
>> (database subscriptions and magazines), Books, Dues and Fees, and Other
>> Supplies which used to be a catch-all category for the following:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. supplies which can range from book processing materials (labels,
>> book tape, book slips, etc...),
>>
>> 2. supplies such as scissors, glue, markers, etc... which have multiple
>> functions supporting teaching, learning, library administration, the
>> Makerspace area, etc... and
>>
>> 3. various other materials/supplies (paint, brushes, special paper,
>> puzzles, kits, etc...)
>>
>>
>>
>> This category "Other Supplies" now is being interpreted by the finance
>> person as only including directing and managing supplies (basically #1
>> above). This is of great concern as I am being told that Makerspace items
>> are instructional and under a different category which I do not have in my
>> budget.
>>
>>
>>
>> Additionally, my open PO request for summer reading books just got denied
>> as they are being considered instructional materials which doesn't fall
>> under the state definition.  So, one of my biggest concerns seems to be
>> that I am afraid that the finance person may not see a need for a school
>> library to provide instructional resources. If I find out during the
>> meeting on Monday that she will allow a library to purchase instructional
>> materials and that the push back is over such items being in a catch-all
>> supply category, I am equally concerned as a lot of these kinds of items
>> serve multiple purposes making budgeting for them under a slew of
>> categories and not being able to move money around, if need be,
>> particularly challenging.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a meeting with the principal and the central office finance person
>> on Monday and I am trying to gather as much information as possible for
>> this meeting. So again basically I am looking for what categories you all
>> use. If there is anyone else out there encountering similar difficulties I
>> would also appreciate your insights.
>>
>>
>>
>> I thank everyone in advance for first reading all of this and anyone who
>> is able to respond.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Michele Eligio
>>
>> North Branford High School Librarian
>>
>> 49 Caputo Road
>>
>> North Branford, CT  06471
>>
>> (203) 484-1465
>>
>>  *“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up
>> windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute
>> to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.”
>> ~Sidney Sheldon*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and
>> intended only for the recipient(s) listed above. If you have received this
>> transmission in error, please notify us immediately by telephone or email
>> and delete the original message and any attachments. Any review or use of
>> the information contained in this email message by persons other than the
>> intended recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient,
>> please notify the North Branford Public Schools immediately by telephone or
>> email and destroy all copies of this message and any attachments.
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Michele Eligio
>
> North Branford High School Librarian
>
> 49 Caputo Road
>
> North Branford, CT  06471
>
> (203) 484-1465
>
>  *“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up
> windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute
> to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.”
> ~Sidney Sheldon*
>
>
>
>
> The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and
> intended only for the recipient(s) listed above. If you have received this
> transmission in error, please notify us immediately by telephone or email
> and delete the original message and any attachments. Any review or use of
> the information contained in this email message by persons other than the
> intended recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient,
> please notify the North Branford Public Schools immediately by telephone or
> email and destroy all copies of this message and any attachments.
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