As you may know, school libraries and school librarians are in an extremely vulnerable position right now. We need your help, your voice, and the voices of your library's supporters to let our lawmakers know that the education of our children will be irreparably harmed if school libraries are forced to close, if schools administrators decide they can "do without" school librarians, or if school libraries wither away for lack of funding. All of these scenarios are possible if the proposed 65 % rule passes, using the federal guidelines that exclude libraries (but include sports) in the definition of "classroom instruction."

The vast majority of people, whether they are parents, teachers or persons with no personal stake in local schools, are shocked and outraged when they learn that school libraries might not be considered instructional elements of education. School libraries support classroom instruction, and school librarians teach students skills that will be critical throughout their educations. Saying school libraries aren't instruction is like calling ketchup a vegetable.

You can help by doing at least one of these three simple things:

1. Email your state representative, senator, and State Board of Education member. It's easy. You can find the contact information for your elected officials at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm

2. Ask three people - such as the chair of your local PTA or friends group, a teacher, community and business leaders - to support this effort by emailing, contacting their representatives, or writing a letter to the editor of their paper.

3. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. See http://www.txla.org/html/Letter_to_Editor.pdf for talking points and suggested instructions (65% letter to the editor campaign).

"In the grim future of Hello Kitty, there is only war and little pink plastic purses."
___ www.knuckerbooks.com


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