The Hancock Public Schools Board of Education authorized Superintendent Chris Salani to spend up to $30,000 Monday as a baseline to maintain student library services. The board will also have Salani work to negotiate a long-term solution with the Portage Lake District Library.
The $30,000 represents the minimum needed to sustain library services for Hancock Public Schools students.
Library services for Hancock Public Schools are provided through a contract with the Portage Lake District Library, funded through a combination of the school budget, the Hancock Public Schools Foundation and a city of Hancock contribution for electronic services.
“The library’s services doesn’t necessarily help on a day-to-day basis with our Barkell Elementary students,” Salani said. “Indirectly it does — after school and on the weekend it does. Our day-to-day operations, for us to manage that space and opportunity for our students, we’ve equated it to about the cost of $30,000.”
Financial pressure in the district drives the library contract conversation. The board’s action comes as the district confronts a structural budget deficit it has carried for several years. Rising education costs and delays in state budget approvals have made it increasingly difficult to sustain certain services and programs.
“Just our general inflationary costs in the district, which have, in some cases, tripled or quadrupled in the last couple of years in particular — these have put the strain on this conversation,” Salani said. “We began these conversations back in March, and from there, we’re here now today.”
According to a Portage Lake District Library budget document, expenses tied to the Hancock Public Library have exceeded $100,000 annually for each of the past three years. Even with the $30,000 school board commitment, the district’s financial outlook remains strained. Salani said the district is still working through a $236,000 deficit.
“Even knowing that we have $236,000 worth of a deficit right now — that’s including that $30,000 — so we’re still $200,000 in a deficit mindset right now, having to carve out ways in which we can drop that so our fund balance doesn’t continue to be eaten away,” he said.
Additional support is expected from outside the district. The Hancock City Council last week approved up to $25,000 toward the school library, and the Hancock Public Schools Foundation is expected to contribute another $15,000 — bringing the total funding pool to $70,000, still short of the library’s recent annual operating costs.
The board has asked Salani to pursue a revised contract with the Portage Lake District Library that addresses the district’s financial constraints while working to preserve community access to library services. Portage Lake District Library’s board of directors will meet on Wednesday and anticipate discussing the Hancock Public School Library. The Hancock Public Schools Foundation will meet in July. Superintendent Salani expects to submit for an annual contribution the foundation has provided in the past worth $15,000.
