Demand at Public Libraries up – Governor’s proposal deemed “devastating” – so are some of the other cuts
The proposed cut to the Public Library system by Governor Strickland to balance the deficit is meeting with quite a bit of non-support, as seen by many media reports including this one:
Demand for resources at public libraries across Ohio is at an all-time high – at the main library in downtown Toledo alone, circulation is up by double-digit percentages, and hundreds more people come through the library each day compared to a year ago.
However, libraries would be forced to drastically reduce services if Gov. Ted Strickland’s new budget proposal for 2009-2011 becomes law.
The budget proposes a 50 percent cut to the Public Library Fund which would, if approved, result in a 25 percent funding cut for libraries in Lucas County, officials said.The library fund makes up half of the library system’s budget of about $30 million; the other half comes from a property tax levy.
“This proposal is extremely devastating,” Clyde Scoles, library director, said during a press conference at the Main Library yesterday with more than 20 library advocates from around the community standing behind him.
Mr. Scoles noted that the budget cuts, if approved, would come after public libraries have already had to reduce their budgets by 20 percent because of decreases in the state’s general revenue fund.
Library advocates urged Ohio residents to bombard state senators and representatives, as well as the governor’s office, with calls of concern.
The problem is going to come in as to what else is suggested as a cut to replace this though, Lucas County would not be as impacted as some of the other public libraries in Ohio, around 70 percent of the state’s 251 public libraries rely solely on state funding, Dispatch article on what has been proposed so far, many of these cuts will hurt those who can least afford it, one example is the cut to Food Banks, this article was earlier when the Public Library cut was proposed at 30 percent:
• One unspecified Department of Youth Services facility would close in the second year of the two-year budget, leaving the agency with five. Overall department funding would get shaved 5 percent from the version of the budget passed this month by the Senate.
• Various scholarships would feel the ax, none more than the Ohio College Opportunity Grant, which would drop from $395 million to $171 million (a 57 percent slide). However, the planned tuition freeze at four-year universities in 2010 would remain.
• Funding to Ohio libraries would plummet 30 percent.
• State subsidies to local governments for human services as well as health, developmental-disability and mental-health services would be chopped. Overall funding to the Department of Mental Health would fall by 17 percent.
• The Early Learning Initiative for preschoolers would be eliminated, and the children transferred to state-subsidized child care.
• The $12.2 million set aside for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education would be nixed.
• Funding for gifted students would be eliminated, and funding enhancements for special-education students would be pruned by 4 percent.
• Over-the-counter drugs for Medicaid recipients would be trimmed.
• State money to help prevent child and senior abuse would be hacked by 70 percent.
• All $7 million in funding for Ohio’s Second Harvest Food Bank would be eliminated.
• Access to some state park campgrounds and forests would be limited, but no parks would close. Stream and groundwater monitoring would be reduced. Funding to the Department of Natural Resources would be cut by 17 percent overall.
• Department of Transportation support for rail, mass transit and aviation would be whacked.
• Some overseas offices of the Department of Development would be sliced.
• The state schools for the blind and deaf would face cutbacks in supplies, maintenance and support staff.
• The Ohio Historical Society’s budget would be slashed by 21 percent.
• Reimbursements to counties to help pay for public defenders would be scaled back by nearly 40 percent.
• The Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services’ allocation would sink by 28 percent.
Source: Gov. Ted Strickland’s office
I also recommend this article that says in part:
About 14,400 low-income children enrolled in state-funded preschool learning programs would be dropped.
About 1,500 of Ohio’s 8,000 workers who investigate child abuse and neglect would lose their jobs — at least for now.
Community health-care centers would be forced to reduce hours, cut staff and eliminate services, while some county mental-health programs face shutting their doors because they would lose $1 of every $3 in state money.
I know this is going to sound horrible to many, but it’s actually kind of refreshing to see government making spending cuts rather than deciding to spend a bunch of money it doesn’t have. When the revenue is not there, we are unable to provide the public programs we normally do. That’s just the bottom line. We can’t make money out of air (no matter how much the Treasury wants to print for fun). Eventually, the debt will get called in and we have to learn to live within our means.
I know that losing some of these programs is sad. I know it’s going to be hard. But we can’t afford to tax our residents more in an effort to make up the tremendous amount of slack that our budget is missing. Hopefully, private citizens and businesses will pitch in where Ohio is leaving off. For myself, I am an avid library user, and I plan to chip in to support the service wherever I can.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 amIf I had to decide between the Library or some of the other cuts, especially cuts to health care for children and the elderly, it’d be a no brainer. Lucas County will be impacted by the cut in library funding but at least we won’t be forced to completely shut down since we don’t rely solely on State funding.
To be honest, I’m much more concerned about some of the other cuts as far as the impact it will have on Ohio’s children and Ohio’s senior citizens.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:32 amOne of my family members works for a Kindercare preschool facility, which depends on funding from the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) to operate. I understand the need to balance the budget and make necessary cuts, as being fiscally responsible is a top priority, but something as important as preschool education in the developmental stages of a young life should not have seen such a drastic cut. I can understand cutbacks, as all programs have things that can be trimmed, but to drop over 14,000 youngsters from preschool seems a bit harsh. Hopefully the program can find some grant opportunities to continue its work, but the future looks bleak for the program.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 amThe Toledo libraries are launching an email/telephone campaign to try and stop this:
http://www.toledolibrary.org/about/nr/budget1.asp
And, Mesmirex, you can raise taxes to pay for all of the services that are being cut. None of the politicians have the cajones to do it, though. Ohio is finding out the hard way that revenue from red light cameras, cigarettes and alcohol can only get them so far.
Even Saint Ronald Reagan had the sense to raise California taxes $1,000,000,000 back in 1976 to cover what was then a massive budget deficit. Pity nobody can do that today.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:51 amNothing that Strickland can do IMO. ANyone see the Public Policy Polling Poll that just came out yesterday. Strickland holds a narrow lead over Kasich 45-42. Strickland only has 62% of support from fellow Democrats!!! Not good! (Admin edit – personal comment directed at individual removed.) Looks like this governor from the DEMOCRAT PARTY is heading for trouble!
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 amThe poll Chad is referencing.
43% of Ohio voters approve of how Strickland is doing his job as Governor, while 42% disapprove. A January PPP survey found the numbers at 48/35.
Strickland’s approval among Democrats has dropped from 70% to 62%, an unusually low level of support for a Governor within his own party. He’s also seen an increasing level of dissatisfaction with him from Republican voters, 72% of whom now say they disapprove of what he’s doing after just 59% did earlier this year.
Matched up against likely GOP candidate John Kasich, Strickland leads 44-42. He had a slightly wider 45-39 advantage in January. Strickland is mostly hurt by a 54-33 deficit to Kasich among independent voters, even though those same voters prefer a Democrat for the Senate in numbers that PPP will release on Tuesday.
PPP surveyed 619 Ohio voters from June 17th to 19th. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 3.9%.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 amCraig-The Unoriginal wrote:
Yes, more taxes in the time of economic hardship on everyone is obviously the answer. How about we just cut to the end game and let the government take our weekly checks. Then, they can just give us a stipend that they deem is appropriate. Doesn’t this sound fantastic to you? Surely the government knows the best way to spend our money. They do such a good job with their own financial concerns, they should be aptly able to handle mine.
Sarcasm aside, I’m not saying (in this instance) we should stop libraries or healthcare or any other public program. What I am saying is that we, as a country, need to learn that we can only provide services that we have the revenue for. It’s sad, but it’s a fact. Printing money from nothing and borrowing it from China is only going to get us so far.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 pmThe funny thing is, I was at last year’s State of the State address, and Governor Strickland was promising to throw millions of dollars to this and that program. By the way, he still hasn’t solved school funding, though he promised he would three years ago.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:28 pmIt seems like when it comes to cuts, they always go after education type things first. What isn’t getting cut or reduced?
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pmChad there is no “DEMOCRAT PARTY” party…
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pmAh…we hear from the ‘Education’ Governor again.
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pmI am not against public service organizations keeping up with the times, but the term “library” has taken on new meaning in the new millennium.
Free movies and music — not what taxes, or the library, are for.
Free Internet to surf, play games and who knows what else — not what taxes, or the library, are for.
A warm spot for the homeless to stay during business hours – not what taxes, or the library, are for. (However, outside of security and water costs, not too expensive to let those citizens inside).
Yes its tough times and tough decisions must be made. Yes the less fortunate feel the pinch also; but the reality is something has too give.
As for preschool being fundamental to our children’s success? Nope. Only because we have been fortunate enough to have public daycare instituted at the preschool and head-start, level, have we been convinced its “necessary.”
Without preschool, kids will still learn their ABC’s and 123’s, probably better; since they won’t have cultural sensitivity, sexual harassment, and diversity training between cookie time and nap time.
TAHL
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:13 pmMost of the clients in the libraries that I use (I, being middle class) are also middle class. That would be in South Toledo, downtown and in several other cities.
Headstart and Preschools are for preparation for elementary school. My sister is a teacher with experience in Headstart, my family used several very good Preschools and my grandsons all went through Headstart. In no way do they resemble daycare centers.
And there are plenty of statistical studies done that clearly indicate that these programs work and they work well. I’d be interested to see what is behind the concept that these are public day cares. It wouldn’t be tolerated and it also wouldn’t be possible since most of these programs are for a very short period of time. My most recent experience (2 grandsons just finished for the summer) is that they are only in the facility for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Hardly a day care resource.
Libraries are and have been an intrinsic part of the community education process. Both private and public study. There is also a direct correlation to economic development as it pertains to a thriving library system. There’s an interesting explanation in this paper: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/Rural/documents/bestpractices.pdf
People use and need the libraries and early childhood development programs. I just want to make sure that there isn’t unfounded negative information planted about them.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:43 pmJust to be clear.
I am not arguing that the libraries are not a positive aspect of civil life. I am not arguing that Head Start and preschool do not provide a step up or improve the success of children.
I am arguing that the library system has waste, and offers services that are not necessary; and that Head Start and preschool are not REQUIRED for a child’s or national educational success.
TAHL
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:56 pmI would be amiss if I didn’t mention the continued need for that cash for the seniors in my care.
When my facility’s budget is slashed, and I have no money to pay my staff, buy food and meds, where exactly should I drop off Grandma?? Perhaps the Govevnor’s mansion??
I love my library, however, like Lisa said, if I am given a choice, my residents will continue to receive the care they were promised and deserve.
Good evening, all.
mj
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 pmWell, those evil Republicans are at it again. Slashing funding for libraries,mental heath care, medicaid, etc. Refusing to raise taxes on the rich!
Wait a minute, the Governor is a Democrat!!
June 25th, 2009 at 7:54 pmWell Jenny if he does cut funding for libraries he won’t ever get elected (or re-elected) to office again in Ohio.
But maybe he’s planning on a D.C. run of some kind.
He’s almost burnt all of his bridges in Ohio.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pmkateb wrote:
My daughters received extensive preparation for elementary school from their parents. Spend sometime actually interacting with your children and maybe reading to them, instead of sitting them in front of the TV or video games.
Oh I know, you are busy working. Why did you want children if not to nurture and care for them? Why would you hand over the responsibility of educating them to strangers-or worse-the government?
June 28th, 2009 at 7:44 amWas that directed at me? We work with all the children at home and make use of whatever professional resources are available to educate the children. We actually see the education and preparation of our children for adult life as number one priority in my family.
I had children and nurtured and cared well for them. They all graduated and are productive members of society.
I have no idea where that came from but it was absolutely not true in my family.
June 28th, 2009 at 2:31 pmNo kateb I did not mean to direct that at you personally, although I agree that you can read it that way. I just used a quote from your post to make a general point that educating children is the responsibility of parents not the government.
June 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pmAhh, glad to hear it! I see how you feel that way – but I feel it does take a village to raise a child. Correctly, that is.
As a parent, I can take care of some medical issues at home but for real medical needs it’s my duty to seek out a professional. A doctor.
And I can teach my children quite a good deal, educationally – but I’m not a professional so I need teachers to make sure that they have the best.
If we had to be an expert in all aspects of life pertinent to raising children – no one could have any.
I see that as saying that if you want to have a car you need to be a mechanic. No one is an expert in all areas.
Truly resourceful and determined people seek out experts.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:39 pm