About six weeks ago, school librarians across HRM were shocked by a rather random declaration by Education minister Brendan Maguire. In a social media post that has since been deleted, Maguire announced in no uncertain terms that Halifax City council was pulling funding from HRCE school libraries, putting almost 100 school librarian jobs on jeopardy.
It may seem odd that a Provincial Minister was commenting on a Halifax City council funding issue that impacted HRCE. In order to understand the connection here, one has to understand the rather unique role HRM plays in funding HRCE schools.
The vast majority of funding for public education in Nova Scotia comes, of course, through provincial taxation. However, municipalities collect approximately 15% of the total education budget through what is known as the Mandatory Education Tax (MET), which is part of your property tax bill. This amount is set by the province and has its origins in the Education Act.
Although collected by the municipalities, it is, in fact, a provincial tax. Since municipalities already collect property taxes, it was determined ages ago that having them collect these monies would avoid unnecessary duplication.
In Halifax, however, there is another level of taxation that is, in fact, a municipal tax, permitted under the Municipal Government Act. This tax allows HRM to supplement the minimum funding coming from the Province to its schools, and is thus often referred to as supplemental funding.
This amount ($0.015 per $100.00 of assessed value) has been around since at least the time of amalgamation, and was originally intended to go towards funding of arts programming in schools. Over the years, various iterations of the HRCE have used these funds to augment other programming needs, including, to the case in point, funding school librarian positions.
This brings us rather round to the current situational dilemma. When that bombshell post was penned by the Education Minister, Librarians in HRCE (more accurately known as Library Support Specialists, or LSS’s) began looking for clarification. If, as the Minister had stated, Halifax City Council was declaring supplemental funds were not to be spent on those positions, then who, if anyone, would be funding school libraries?
Despite a vigorous social media campaign, a substantive e-mail campaign and a robust and heartfelt rally at Halifax City Hall, librarians are still waiting for answers.
Now, a fairly solid case could be made that the supplementary funding budget should have perhaps never been used to hire librarians in the first place. After all, the monies were originally intended to go towards augmenting Fine Arts programming.
However, the funding model has existed in its current form for decades, and as such, HRCE has come to rely on these funds to support school libraries. Whether this was appropriate or not does little to aliveate the current uncertainty, particularly when so many vital positions hang in the balance.
I use the word “vital” intentionally here. It has been said that the one thing education experts agree on is that education experts don’t agree on anything. Despite that adage, the relative value of a well staffed, well funded school library to students seems almost universally understood.
For over 30 years, study after study has shown a positive correlation between student achievement and school libraries. These include higher standardized test scores in both reading and math, higher graduation rates, and higher overall academic achievement. These gains are even more impressive in that they persist regardless of student socioeconomic status.
Beyond the academic benefits they provide, more and more research is being done on the social impacts of libraries in schools. One recent study out of the US determined that school libraries were highly valued among student populations “for their capacity to foster belonging and sanctuary”.
In short, libraries are kind of a big deal.
According to sources at city hall, council members are split on this issue. Some have agreed that funding libraries in schools is a good use of public funds. Some have taken the stance that the province, not the city, should be footing the bill. The DoEECD, again, through the Minister’s social media posts, has said that the issue is to be sorted out by HRM. For it’s part, HRCE has remained stoically silent, presumably because funding talks are still ongoing.
Unfortunately, none of the entities involved, it seems, are actually talking to the librarians.
The Province has taken fairly significant steps in the past few years to recognize the importance of providing safe work places for their employees, including those who work in education. The definition of safety has been broadened in the sector to include a consideration of psychological safety as well physical safety in schools.
According to Nova Scotia’s own definition, “A psychologically safe workplace promotes workers’ mental well-being and actively prevents harm to their psychological health. It’s an environment where people feel respected, supported, and safe…”
I’m not 100% sure how workers being told their jobs may be eliminated via a social media post from the Minister of Education fits even remotely within this definition.
I would further argue that by not providing information to its employees on this matter, the government is engaging in activity that not only does not work to prevent psychological harm, but rather, exacerbates it.
It’s been well over a month since Minister Maguire made his statement about the funding, and in that month there have been many opportunities for his government, or City Council for that matter, to provide some clarity to employees.
Supporting school libraries and the people who staff them has been proven, time and again, to be one of the best ways to support kids in schools.
It’s beyond time that school librarians in HRM were provided answers as to who, if anyone, is going to be keeping the library lights on.
frostededucation 