Texas Proposes Classroom Costs Per '65 Percent' Plan

Texas schools would count the salaries of librarians--but not those of nurses, guidance counselors, or bus drivers--as instructional expenses under proposed rules that would define how districts would comply with a new state mandate to spend 65 percent of their budgets on classroom costs. The rules are designed to make it easier for districts to comply with the 65 percent policy than under a plan being pushed by a national group lobbying for ensuring that classrooms get that share of school spending, said Texas Commissioner of Education, Shirley Neeley. In writing the Texas rules, scheduled to be formally proposed the week of April 19, 2006, Ms. Neely said she recognized that librarians are actively involved in teaching students how to conduct research and learn from resources available in school libraries. "They're the hub of any school," she said in an interview the week of April 10, 2006. "There's so much instruction that's going on in there particularly on research skills."