A group of Evergreen librarians met with district and union people last week to discuss the budget process. Librarians have been told that the budget that has always been managed by them will next year go directly to building administrators to decide how, and to whom, the budget will be allocated. We asked to meet in order to understand how this change of procedure was decided.

At the end of the meeting, I felt that we are being listened to and that this change might not now take place. It's the first time in a long while that I have had a ray of hope in this long road of reduced revenue that we face. Some of my trust in our district has been restored, and even if it's only a momentary optimism that's been given, at least I've had a respite from the everyday worry about our future as a progressive district.

I hope those who can will attend the next board meeting, Tuesday April 27 at 5:30 in the Tan Complex when the board will announce some of the decisions they've come to regarding next year.

Regarding the budget, we all accept the fact that we're much like other companies around the country, but we hope our voices will be heard when librarians advocate for being able to be the decision makers about how library budget is spent. It would be great if some of our students who realize the impact past budget practice has had on them would speak up. Please use this space for that forum if you are one of those.